In her recent letter (May 2) Dr Margaret O’Keeffe makes a number of observations about what she calls ‘austerity fatigue’.

Who are we to vote on abortion, and dictate who is to come on the train of life, as we are only passengers ourselves, and what would happen if Our Lady had aborted?

Michael Clifford (Forum, Apr 27) provided us with an example of a wild abandonment of reason and logic in his article on the termination of reason and logic.

For the first quarter 2013, retail sales came in much lower than expected.

The sad irony of the current abortion debate is that if this Government, and in particular the Labour Party, had genuine concerns about suicide it would instead deal with the crippling despair caused by its bank-focused economic policies.

Kenny’s position that “abortion legislation is about saving lives” (30/4) could hardly be further from the truth in that its furthest reach is the X Case.

Fianna Fáil’s internal debate about the wisdom of having collections outside chapel gates highlights the thorny, but fundamental, position regarding party funding.

Liam Doran keeps referring to the nurses as highly trained professionals.

We have been repeatedly reminded that the 2008 financial meltdown has resulted in the worst economic crisis since the foundation of the state.

We can send a man to the moon, get energy from the wind, produce cures for many types of chronic and life-threatening illnesses, yet we don’t appear to have the expertise to formulate a substance that will contract, expand and resist heavy weights, as circumstances require.