The latest pension records from the Irish Military Archives show that Robert Briscoe’s application for a State pension, for IRA service in the War of Independence, was resisted by fellow republicans.

Further proof that Fine Gael and Labour have no intention of stopping the country sliding back into the cronyism is the revelation that in the midst the IMMA scandal, Mr Noonan didn’t even blush at reappointing Michael Soden and Des Geraghty as members of the Central Bank Commission quango. Did no one in the department think it would be worthwhile to advertise the positions to see who might apply?

Pat O’Connor ( Letters, October 6) is only tinkering with the issues when he says changing the rules in relation to the kick out will change the “mass defence system” ruining Gaelic football.

Modern highbrow comedians may have third level qualifications, but unfortunately they have lost the art of extracting spontaneous laughter from an audience. Or could it be possible people no longer laugh as much?

As Clinton learned from Monicagate and Nixon from Watergate, the cover-up sometimes is worse than the wrongdoing.

The recent inquest in Sligo into the tragic death of Dhara Kivlehan has focused attention again on shortfalls in the provision of intensive care beds in Ireland.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) is being negotiated in Brussels. Its purpose is to remove regulatory differences hindering EU/US trade. 

In a recent article your writer Miguel Delaney calling the launch of an autobiography by footballer Roy Keane “one of the literary events of the year” is laughable.

Tuesday morning’s news bulletins on RTÉ (October 7) led with an incident at Dublin airport where two taxiing Ryanair aircraft brushed wings.

The appointment of Phil Hogan as European agriculture minister is not something farmers, with a portfolio of less than one 100 acres, should be happy about.