Sections of recent Dáil debates and international statements made by the Taoiseach threw up some interesting statistics.

I have to take issue with Tom Carew (“The day the Madrid regime killed Spain”, October 3). Mr Carew says the Guardia Civil was inherited from Franco. In fact, that highly-respected police organisation dates back to the 19th century.

Your editorial ‘It just got harder to sustain tax argument’ (Irish Examiner, September 30) asked the question if we ‘want to remain some sort of rogue outlier’ in relation to taxing multinationals but the Comptroller and Auditor General’s annual report contradicted the basis of that statement elsewhere in the same editorial.

I hope I can express my strong disagreement with the views of Suzanne Harrington (Irish Examiner, 25/9/17) regarding what she calls “reproductive autonomy”.

The Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI), responding to the Government’s announcement of a referendum to be held on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, call on participants in the public debate to be respectful and informed by the best available facts and compassionate understanding when discussing the realities facing girls and women in Ireland pregnant following rape.

In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the rise of the military-industrial-complex and its potential to have an overbearing influence on government.

My recent trip to Bethlehem shattered my illusions. The most iconic place in all of Christendom is the most unholy and violent I have ever visited.

The organisers of this year’s National Ploughing Championships, at Screggan near Tullamore, deserve huge praise.

There is no truth in Gearóid Duffy’s claim that ‘Ireland, and other countries without abortion, have consistently had the best maternity outcomes in the world’ (Irish Examiner, September 19).

I was very pleased to hear that the minster for housing is to allow the reintroduction of bedsitters.