John Glennon (Letters, Dec 16) referring to the Official Languages Act claims “Without the active support of top management, the new legislation was doomed from the start.”

The resignation of An Coimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, adds to the growing suspicion that there is now an undeclared policy in operation to do away with what’s left of Irish in the public life of our country.

I endorse John Healy’s excellent letter (Dec 12). Every point was well-made.

It is a pity that Sean O’Connor (Letters, Dec 4) had neither the time nor the inclination to research the issues behind the ASTI government dispute.

Regarding the letter ‘Unfair pensions’ (Dec 13), the Minister for Social Protection has not announced and has no plans to announce “a further tax from 10% to 20% on all private pensions above €12,000 per annum”. This is absolutely incorrect.

One of the many tributes to Nelson Mandela said that he was impressed with the Irish people who travelled to South Africa and volunteered with the Niall Mellon Housing project.

A recent article in your paper entitled “How do we protect kids from online predators? ” caught my attention as we are hearing more and more horrible stories about predators grooming children they have met online.

Since Minister for Social Protection and Welfare Joan Burton’s government came into power, pensioners have to pay a pension levy and universal social charge on their private pensions.

A point of information: European translation costs amount to €330m per annum according to the European Commission — in total.

Regarding Barry Walsh’s reply to my letter on Irish in the EU, may I point out that the EU has 24 official languages, including not only world languages such as English, French and German, but also smaller national languages such as Irish, Latvian and Maltese.