The Irish Examiner has devoted much space this year to Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa.

Having fought a long, but unsuccessful battle to save Killarney Town Council from Phil Hogan’s ruthless axe, I am watching with considerable interest the struggle that is beginning in Cork. 

The consent given by parish priests in the 1950s to allow the National Library of Ireland (NLI) to microfilm their records of births, marriages and deaths was courageous.

In his article on August 6 in the Irish Examiner, Shaun Connolly wrote that the Taoiseach’s intention to win three general elections had “sparked outrage”.

Playing with O’Donovan Rossa’s dynamite and his monstrous reign of terror from 1867 to the mid 1880s, is a very irresponsible policy agenda for this state to pursue. No liberal democracy on this earth would place such an evil man on a pantheon of glory.

Free speech is not cheap. “No dough, no go for presidential hopefuls” (Irish Examiner, August 4) relates the huge amount of money already compiled by US presidential candidates — and the voting doesn’t start for another six months.

If ever an animal could be said not to have died in vain, it was poor old Cecil the Lion. His sad death, at the hands of a wealthy hunter, has focused attention on the plight of endangered wildlife.

Now that the state ceremony in Glasnevin is over, may I use your columns to say a ludicrously brief, but intensely sincere, thank you to everyone who participated in whatever form in the Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa centenary commemoration in West Cork over the last number of weeks – and most especially to those who have helped organise the various events (all of whom I hope to thank in person over the coming weeks).

Considering the amount of publicity given to the incident in last Sunday’s Gaelic football game between Dublin and Fermanagh, whereby goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton was pushed over the line with the ball in his hands and a goal awarded, I feel there is a broad lack of enforcement in games. 

In July we had our first opportunity to come to Ireland for four and a half days and spend three of them in County Cork.