Vis-à-vis the James Bond films scenario, Sean Connery had more style, class and gravitas than all the other Bond actors put together.

I was truly horrified to read that a woman gave a graphic account of her abortion to a congregation that contained an estimated 100 children at a mass in Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

Last week I read about the three-year-old boy in Dublin who has Down Syndrome and needs special shoes to help him walk because he suffers from low muscle tone.

The letter from Michael O’Connell (Irish Examiner Oct 9) on the pensions and lump sums paid to former and sitting members of Dáil Eireann was factual and timely.

Your editorial (Oct 5) on the increased immigrant inflow seems sanguine about an anomaly.

I would like to congratulate Rory McIlroy on his golfing achievements.

It is now 2012, Irish society has moved on a great deal, but sadly many institutions such as the Christian churches, some Government departments and their civil servants remain in their bunkers.

During the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ years, we had a breed of economists and spokespersons ranging from the government, financial institutions and property websites who appeared to be working in tandem, or at least expressed the same message in stoking the fire that helped to destroy this country.

People who were detained against their will and abused in psychiatric institutions are also entitled to have their cases heard and to claim compensation.

Fergus Finlay made a very good point about “governing behind closed doors” (Irish Examiner Oct 9).