IT WAS A week of a new year, new pastures (for one iconic footballer) and a new political party.

That, and more, it’s the week in quotes.

It will of course be hard. Slings and arrows are at the ready, pointed at us. We will proceed and will not be deflected from our goals.

Lucinda Creighton knows starting a new political party won’t be easy.

I don’t use bad language. I apologise if offence was taken.

Charlie Flanagan on whether he used a four-letter word about Sinn Féin.

What’s up next?? A sitcom on The Holocaust maybe with funny fat Nazis eating victims alive? Or how about a comedy about Ebola with black kids dying on screen and doctors telling funny jokes about them?

Fianna Fáil’s David McGuinness didn’t find news of a sitcom about The Famine that funny.

“This has been the toughest decision of my life, and one which both me and my family have agonised over for a good deal of time.”

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard won’t be on Merseyside for much longer – he’s leaving at the end of the season.

We believe we can resume suspended senior-level talks and hold other talks on specific issues if South Korea sincerely has a position that it wants to improve North-South relations through a dialogue.

Kim Jong-Un gave a New Year’s Day speech, calling the Sony hack a “righteous deed”.

ASPCA ASPCA

Never ever buy a puppy for Christmas…all you do is encourage puppy farms to breed ever more dogs.

Billy Gallagher of Athlone SPCA after puppies were abandoned on the road on Christmas Day.

The State pension is absolutely secure.

Joan Burton on a discussion paper that suggested cutting the payment.