We appear to have businesses who are in the same business no less, charging different rates of VAT to retail customers.

In view of the neglect by RTE of Munster and its environs, it is vitally important that all Munster politicians should unite to form a Munster Development Committee, which would counteract the focus from Dublin towards Munster.

According to a report in your newspaper (Jul 18), the Minister for Justice, Mr Alan Shatter, has plans to make the family courts ‘more humane’.

In your article ‘More humane family courts planned’ (Jul 18) you say that “Families and children caught up in legal disputes will have a more humane, less costly, and more expert court system under proposed constitutional reforms”.

Irish hospitality has long been rumoured, and last week my mother and I witnessed it at the highest level during our vacation.

Not too long ago a Sunday newspaper claimed that the 300 richest people in Ireland had increased their wealth by €6bn, and this as austerity had begun to hit ordinary working people, including the poorest.

On Tuesday I presented my bank debit card for payment in a restaurant.

There is a worldwide consensus that the only way for countries in economic difficulty to overcome those difficulties is through economic growth.

Regarding the pyrite attack affecting Celtic tiger houses (Irish Examiner, Jul 17), I have been a regular visitor back home to Ireland from Africa.

By any standards, the decision of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeal to order Boston College to hand over recordings of taped interviews with dozens of former IRA and UVF members, which were conducted on the basis of confidentiality, is bizarre and has significant implications for future academic and journalistic research (US tapes ‘may implicate IRA chiefs’ Irish Examiner, Jul 7).