Reports regarding the increase in passengers on the Galway-Limerick rail route in recent months are refreshing.

We possibly forgot the Government was only still in its initiation stage when the Troika took charge, making our leaders their stooges and bidding them act accordingly.

The speed at which Deputy Jerry Buttimer called for an “abortion forum” to examine Ireland’s law is as predictable as the Government’s ambition to remove protection from the unborn child.

Liam Croke’s article (Irish Examiner, Jan 3 ) encourages first-time buyers to delay purchasing a property until all associated costs are properly considered and assessed.

In trying to further discredit participants who have taken part in the wave of recent protests across the country the government have tried to label them as members of Sinn Féin, and in the process are likening them to fascists. 

Your columnist Michael Clifford rightly condemns the “same old political promises”, but he ignores the elephant in the room: media hype [Irish Examiner, January 3].

I have been reading some interesting letters in these pages on the speed limit signs on display on Irish roads. And yes, I also recently received a summons for doing 73kph in a 60kph speed limit.

Lucinda Creighton says she wishes to establish a new political party, but also says that she will be voting for same-sex marriage in the forthcoming referendum.

I spent Christmas without electricity, as did many other people. We are all likely to be customers of Bord Gais Energy, the newly privatised former arm of Bord Gais.

It has been reported that the new chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) could get a ‘bonus entitlement’ of up to €384,000, on top of a salary-and-benefits package of €445,000.