Russian president Vladimir Putin says the referendum in Crimea was held “in full accordance with democratic procedures”. To win with 97% of the vote is no mean achievement.

Dictatorship in Russia is undeniable. Dictatorship has brought pain and suffering to too many people, past and present.

Ms B. Cotter (Letters, Irish Examiner, March 15) is unlikely to have been schooled in civil rights or a citizen’s constitutional obligations, for these are in tension with her Catholic Church’s interests.

Angela Merkel says that Russia is taking advantage of Ukraine’s weakness.

For the record, I have both French and Irish ancestry, and grew up Catholic during the days of “Dominus vobiscum”.

This government regularly quotes what happens in the UK when trying to promote their particular brainchild.

In response to Dr Owen Gallagher (Irish Examiner, Letters, March 17), yes, the British government now realises that same-sex marriage will require a massive rewrite of legislation, dating back to 1285, but that is a good thing, as that was 729 years ago.

I was reading Damien Enright’s feature (March 17, Irish Examiner) on walking in Timoleague.

With media focused entirely on the Government lurching daily from farce to fiasco, another significant injustice to pensioners has slipped under the radar, i.e. the unilateral elimination of the Transition Pension for 65-year-olds.

I watched Imelda May’s first show on RTE, (Sunday 16th March).