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“I believe that one body laid out on a slab after a robbery would put an end to robberies in the area pretty lively” – they’re the comments of Fine Gael councillor, Padraig Conneely at a meeting of the Joint Policing Committee in Galway when the issue of robberies came up for discussion. Mr Coneely who is chairman of that committee said that he needed to speak out because in his view many of his constituents are terrified in their own homes and someone needs to take a stand. Pat was joined by Padraig Conneely and by Michael O’Higgins, Senior Counsel.

Between 1995 and 2008 the figure for public spending on drugs increase by a whopping 640%, the biggest increase in Western Europe. A scandalous increase, says one of my next guests, Dan O’Brien of the Irish Times. We have a bigger population now and yes we have higher expectations, especially after the boom years, when our income increased exponentially during those years. So can this increase be justified?

Pat was joined by Dan O’Brien and by Anne Nolan, Chief executive, Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association.

With money and household budgets tight it seems that more people are skimping not just on servicing their cars but are neglecting to replace blown headlights. So called “one eyed monsters” are a threat to road users and of concern to the Road Safety Authority and the Automobile Association.

The AA will be doing an on-line survey for this programme on the issue of faulty lights and will have details for us on that next week. We did our own mini survey one night recently at a main road junction and found 15 cars with only one light working, in the space of fifteen minutes.

Conor Faughnan Director of Consumer Affairs of the AA joined Pat this morning.

In 2012, 1,684 businesses failed. That’s off the back of 1638 for 2011 and 1525 in 2010. And when businesses fail, it has a knock on effect. Individuals go into debt, people struggle with repayments and it is difficult for many to make ends meet.

Money Is Too Tight To Mention is a new 6-part series for RTE. A team of top financial experts, with a unique insight and years of experience dealing with banks, will help businesses and individuals with their money problems.

Pat was joined by one of those experts, Tommy Murphy of Advanced Corporate Transformations Ltd, and by Mícheál Leydon from Kavanagh Fennell Insolvency.

Whether you’re looking for a signed mass card or maybe a glow in the dark religious saint, most religions have a commercial side and Catholicism is no different. There are Dedicated religious shops in towns and cities across Ireland, and yesterday Brian O’Connell spent time talking to shoppers in two religious shops in Cork City.

Juliet Turner was a household name on the Irish music scene in the late nineties and early 2000 - then with three studio albums, a live album, double platinum sales and a Meteor Music Award under her belt, Juliet decided that a change of scene was needed and in October 2006 returned to Trinity College Dublin to undertake a four year BSc in Clinical Speech and Language Studies. She continued to do some performing but I’m delighted to say that she is just about to release a new collection of her songs and she was with Pat in studio.

To the West African country of Mali now...where a French-led campaign to halt the advance of Islamist rebels is now in its fourth day.

The UN Security Council is supporting the action by France which it has already been warned may turn into a lengthy – and bloody – campaign.

But why is France leading this charge? And though it has the support of the UN, does the West really need to become embroiled in another conflict with Islamic extremists?

John Lichfield is Paris Correspondent with The London Independent and he joined Pat this morning.