I am bewildered by the involvement of Richard Boyd Barrett TD in a school issue.

There are historical commemorations all year round.

Gaelic football would benefit enormously if the GAA reduced the number of players on a team to 13.

With the proposed closure of the Whitegate Oil Refinery, there is in the opinion of many people an urgent need for Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte to set up a task force to examine the upgrading of the refinery to ensure the livelihood of the current 350-plus Cork employees and contractors and in the interests of the motoring public.

Your editorial (Aug 21) parsing the “pantomime” performance of the Seanad’s summer sitting, strikes a resolutely resonant ‘cluster-chord’ for the total overhaul of legislative process and statutory governance.

If you think revisionism is the sole preserve of new West Brits gone soft with money, think again.

When our Government introduced the household tax one of our ministers told us it would be ring-fenced to fund the provision of local services administered by local authorities. We understand it was to be spent on improving our third world by-roads, etc.

Mention has been made of ‘Rebel Cork’. As a Dub, always and ever happy to live in Cork City, may I point out that the title ‘Rebel Cork’ has an interesting history that perhaps many who rejoice in that name are not aware of.

Like tens of thousands of others I have grown very weary of television as an entertainment medium and so have those who have the resources to spend enormous sums on advertising. But I must say that the 2013 Rose of Tralee contest was a most engaging and entertaining television spectacle.

During the recent visit of CIA director John Brennan to his father’s home area in the West of Ireland, people were advised that, as the visit was in a private capacity, no reference should be made/questions put in relation to his role as CIA director.