I am concerned about the proposals to abolish the Junior Certificate exam and to introduce continuous assessment in our second-level schools.

I understand that our rural county councils have as their remit the management and maintenance of our hedgerows and ditches for safety and other reasons.

Not to diminish the accomplishments of elephants, but Richard Collins draws the line too narrowly when he writes that only they, along with “humans, the other great apes, and dolphins,” are known to recognise themselves in mirrors (“Why elephants chance their arm”, The Irish Examiner, March 10).

Ruairi Quinn states that the removal of the teaching of the Catholic religion from school will help those parents who hypocritically baptise children for school.

Your recent editorials shine a spotlight on the grim realities overshadowing two fundamental elements of our wellbeing as a mature and thriving society — “dumbing down education” and “health services crisis” (The Irish Examiner, March 11, 2014).

The British Government now realises that same-sex marriage will require a massive rewrite of legislation dating back to 1285.

The recent UN Human Rights report on the Catholic Church belongs in the category of ‘you couldn’t make it up’.

Though I am not a historian, I do believe that we should learn from the mistakes of our past. George Bush in his own eloquent way, once attempted to say, ‘Fool me once — shame on you. Fool me twice — shame on me’.

I wish to make a reply to a letter published in your newspaper (March 11) and headed “No free country behaves like this”.

I was sickened to read of the meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Examiner, March 8). Abusive priests have been shown too much compassion by their victims and the Irish public.