The Week thatwas

Monday

■ THE State ID card will now be needed for paying taxes. There’s also a firm proposal on the table for the Public Services Card to be required for voter registration. A row blew up around the cards when it emerged during the summer that an elderly woman was denied pension payments after she refused to register for one.

Tuesday

■ FOUR Ryanair employees in Ireland are being investigated on suspicion of inciting tax evasion in Germany. The investigation is part of a lengthy probe by German authorities into the tax and employment position of pilots working in the country for Ryanair under third-party contracts. The German prosecutor’s office, in Koblenz, confirmed that four directly employed Ryanair staff members remain under investigation, and that the probe will continue for some time.

Wednesday

■ A MAN in a rented pick-up truck drove onto a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Centre memorial in New York (above) on Tuesday, and mowed down people, killing at least eight and injuring several others in what the city’s mayor called “a particularly cowardly act of terror”. The driver was shot by police.

Thursday

■ RAIL strikes are now being planned for Christmas Eve and the two weekends before the festive season, unless train staff get the same pay rise as Luas and bus drivers.

Sources revealed that peak travel dates of December 16 and 17, as well as December 23 and 24, will be targeted. It will affect thousands of shoppers and people travelling for the holidays.

Friday

■ A HIDDEN army of more than 195,000 carers, including children under 10 years of age, is propping up the health system through unpaid work.

The shocking census figures highlight how 29,311 carers are pensioners, which is a rise of 18.5pc in just five years.