Following on from Charles Hayes’s letter on (Irish Examiner, Friday, January 15) it needs to be pointed out that Cement Road Holdings (CRH) has stated that its decision to sell its stake in Israeli company Mashav Holdings was part of a “multi-year streaming plan” and had nothing to do with a long-running campaign by certain groups urging a boycott of Israel.

Martin D Stern (Letters, January 6) wrongly suggests that in my letter on January 13 I was trying to imply Israel was ultimately responsible for recent Saudi executions.

In this the year of the 100th anniversary of The Easter Rising it’s still amazing what some simple genealogical research can reveal about a 1916 executed leader

That Tánaiste Joan Burton has used an ‘exceptional’ clause in the new public appointment rules to personally appoint former trade union leader, David Begg, as the chairman of the Pensions Authority, thereby bypassing the public appointments process, is further evidence that cronyism is still widespread in government circles despite what we had been promised.

I would be more than happy to make a blood donation, regardless of the current level of the blood supply in Ireland.

How interesting it is to note in yesterday’s Irish Examiner (January 18) that Paul Bradford and Lucinda Creighton rue the abolition of town councils.