I am pleased Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly recognises (Irish Examiner, December 30) the need to ensure Irish entrepreneurs are not hamstrung in driving growth and creating jobs.

2014 was a difficult year for those of us who like to take the optimist’s view of life. 

Fair dues to the Irish Examiner for attempting to give a fair hearing to the other side of the case of the braindead mother and her unborn child.

After years of scrimping, the Irish people are sick of penny-pinching. They decided en masse to splash out in the lead up to Christmas and in the sales that followed.

You report that there is a special cabinet meeting planned for this month devoted to jobs (Irish Examiner, January 2).

Bob Quinn’s cry from the heart or more accurately from the pocket (Letters, January 1) expresses well concerns that I have frequently spoken about at meetings of Kerry County Council.

The media monitoring group, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, or FAIR, studied 1,617 on camera US sources on the reporting of the 2003 invasion of Iraq between March 20 and April 9, 2003.They found 71% of all US sources were pro-war, only 3% anti-war.

In all the media coverage of the Palestinian Authority’s recent membership of the International Criminal Court, the emphasis has been on how Israel can now be legally called to account for its conduct regarding Gaza .

Congratulations to RTÉ One and director Ciarán Deeney of El Zorrero Films for screening on December 28, the one-hour long documentary Man on Bridge, recalling the life and times of Dublin street photographer Arthur Fields.

Minister Aodháin Riordáin says he wants equality and the people’s will to be done.