Five years on from Israel’s assault on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, when approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed (Amnesty International), the situation in Gaza is increasingly desperate.

Matt Cooper says during the property bubble “money poured into this country’s banks” from institutions in Germany and France (Opinion, Dec 27). In saying this, he is lazily rehashing a claim which is often made, but is also entirely false.

While visiting a relative in Bishopstown, Cork, I found myself at 6pm in a estate without street lighting while all other parks in the vicinity were well lit.

Jose Manuel Barosso was quite rightly apoplectic and inconsolable, Herman Achille Van Rompuy was incandescent with indignation, Olli Rehn was incensed and infuriated, Mario Draghi was extremely vexed while Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schaueble were exasperated.

Hans Asperger, the erstwhile prominent Viennese paediatrician, could never have envisaged the global phenomenological fervour which enveloped and exponentially developed his collated observations on the perceived ‘psychopathy’ exhibited by some children with apparent communication, social-skillset, peer-empathy and physical adroitness issues.

I refer to the interesting article by Richard Fitzpatrick (Lifestyle, Dec 27) commemorating the 70th anniversary of the MV Kerlogue rescue of 168 Germans in the Bay of Biscay in 1943 in the aftermath of one of many naval battles fought during WW II.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the need for regulation in the charity sector.

The survey of over 40 charities in Ireland recently showed us that most of the CEOs are paid around €100,000 a year.

The RSA (Road Safety Authority) takes all the ‘praise’ when road deaths are down over a period, and blame the people themselves when numbers rise.

Agriculture was the backbone of our economy.