John Leahy should have checked his facts before he penned his recent letter on the “sense of entitlement” in Irish politics (Jan 21).

Our political system is so inadequate it would be better to invite a cross-section of consultancy firms to apply for membership of Dáil Eireann and vote for the ones most likely to benefit the nation.

Your front page headline “We’re the real victims: Rehab” (Irish Examiner, Jan 23) is a spectacular example of how the charity sector fails to distinguish self interest from the public interest.

Imagine what would happen if a bank robber or serial offender told a judge that they would ‘swing around into compliance’!

Are there no ethical standards left in this country or have we become an institutionalised nation of greed? Charity chief executives not only topping up, but hiding their fees from donation funds goes beyond belief.

Let us hope the prophets of doom are wrong and the storm clouds are not gathering across the North but there is little to suggest that everything is rosy in the garden and the Good Friday Agreement is safe in the custody of the DUP and Sinn Féin, two parties that have the capacity to either make it work but apparently are more interested in wrecking it.

With Irish Water, CRC, the banks, etc, time and again we see that Ireland is being run by a class of greedy, amoral executives.

Like everything else in this country the people controlling the CRC were allowed free rein, their salaries tied to the runaway public service pay, without any monitoring or accountability by successive administrations.

Because of the consultants’ fees of €50m, the local property tax, which was supposed to fund local authorities, now will have to capitalise Irish Water.

I read James Hogan’s letter (Jan 18) requesting references from Mary McAleese on her comments about gay priests, and wondered if he had furnished any statistics or references himself.