The Children’s Ombudsman, Emily Logan, has expressed serious concerns about the mishandling by State agencies of the case of an 11-year-old girl who was subjected to repeated rape, sometimes at knife-point.

I was reading about Tom Hanks being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (Irish Examiner, Oct 8).

Now that the greatest series, in living memory, of the All- Ireland hurling championship has just concluded, it would be reasonable to expect that the main protagonists would come in for unqualified praise. Not so, however.

I urge readers to go to the Robert Ballagh Exhibition at the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork.

The people have spoken. The Seanad lives on.

I see that Vicky Pryce, ex-wife of former UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, claims that “most women go to jail because of men” (Irish Examiner, Oct 7).

One must concede that Michéal Martin has matured into a very capable political leader during his relatively short term in the position.

I was surprised to read “Pope is too lenient because of no heart” (Letters, Oct 10) I am not sure, to be fair, if the title reflected accurately the views of the writer, a member of the Third Franciscan order in the US, who wrote his concerns that Pope Francis thinks more with reason than with a spiritual conscience informed by traditional Catholic Church teaching on some moral issues.

Enda Kenny has taken a ‘wallop’ with the defeat of his referendum to abolish the Seanad.

How can Taoiseach Enda Kenny believe it is immoral to expect the young to contribute to pensions schemes that are unlikely to provide them with an income in retirement while his Government continues to contribute €4bn per annum to the same ponzi pensions schemes?