THIS WEEK THEY SAID

I have no recall of sterling being in my hands, ever

I have no recall of sterling being in my hands, ever.  -   Gráinne Carruth, who worked at Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's office in St Luke's, Drumcondra, from 1987 to 1999, giving evidence to the Mahon tribunal.

She later accepted that "as a matter of probability" she had lodged sterling cash he gave her to his Irish Permanent Building Society account.

There are those who say the Iraqi army can control Iraq without the Americans. But they are liars. - Ali Omar Ali, an Iraqi battalion commander in Mosul.

If there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions. - Osama bin Laden's message to the Danish newspapers which published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

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The world is better, and the United States of America is safer. - US president George W. Bush, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a tragedy - for Iraq, for the US, for the UN, for truth and human dignity. - Hans Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq.

The Irish banking sector remains robust and has no material exposures to the subprime market.- John Hurley, governor of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, saying that banks here are not exposed to mortgage defaulters in the way their counterparts in the US are.

I say to China and the Tibetans: Don't commit violence. - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, urging an end to violent protests over Chinese rule in the country.

Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral.- Written instructions from Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, who died this week.

When you're looking into the abyss, you don't quibble over details. - American senator Charles Schumer, on the eleventh-hour deal enabling JP Morgan Chase to buy the troubled investment bank Bear Stearns.