Water, water everywhere and not a tear to shed: well not for Big Phil, he’s washed his hands of it; not for Irish Water’s public relations consultants, they’re swimming in it; not for Cool Michael, his party neglected it for years; not for Moustache Willie, he’s turning up the pressure when Irish Water turn his down; not for Alan Kelly, he’s up to his neck in it; not for the young, the aged and unemployed, they are getting free allowances; not for Joe Public, he deserves the shower he elects.

Michael Clifford says the Government has made a ‘hames’ of setting up the water infrastructure. If they have, the media coverage of the issue has not done much better.

For the sake of a bit of enlightenment, could we skip Christmas this year.

I refer to the article ‘Pesticides threaten shellfish industry’ (Irish Examiner, October 20).

It has been revealed in the Irish Examiner (October 24) that the Irish Greyhound Board’s debt has increased significantly, with €21 million spent on a racing stadium in Limerick which has been criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

We need to create a closer connection and understanding of the true cost and value of State benefits. 

It would seem that Michéal Martin and Fianna Fáil have misunderstood or are completely misrepresenting the anger of the Irish people in relation to Irish Water.

I read with interest, and some frustration at the hubris it contained, the letter (‘Teachers against the Junior Cycle’, October 23) jointly written by Phillip Irwin and Gerry Quinn (presidents of the teaching unions ASTI & TUI respectively).

The interconnectedness of conflicts in the Middle East seems beyond comprehension to those who ignore that the root causes are inappropriate Western political and military intervention.

Incredibly for an island divided along religious lines for almost a century, nothing has been proposed by the constitutional convention around the separation of Church and State.