During the height of the Celtic Tiger, many politicians and commentators repeated the mantra that the banks were capitalised and the fundamentals were sound.

As a left-hander I am always amazed that other left-handers like president Barack Obama twist their hands to such an uncomfortable angle when they write, when it is far easier to slightly turn the page you are writing on instead.

It is 382 years this week since the Jun 20, 1631, raid on the thriving Cork fishing village of Baltimore by pirates from Algiers in Morocco.

To those of you who are under any illusion as to the importance of the Upper House or Seanad, at an annual cost of over €18m, this is an un-elected body which has, in its 90 years of existence, amended only 12 bills.

I was heartened to read during the week that the number of suicides among some categories of people is down by a few percentage points on last year.

With the G8 Summit being held in Northern Ireland I cannot understand why my government here in the Republic is sending armed garda units to patrol the border and set up special courts and holding centres for this event, that has nothing to do with us, with money the Irish taxpayers cannot afford.

The Seanad is in need of reform, but the bill launched last week demonstrates that reform is attainable.

This latest nonsense about stopping alcohol sponsorship of sport is yet another sad attempt by useless bureaucrats to justify their salary.

The Roman Catholic Church has canonised 813 people who were killed by Muslims in 1480, because they were Christians.

I recently read in your newspaper that Cork City Council cannot legally regulate the use of rickshaws on the streets of Cork City.