It is hard to fathom the utter disconnect between the Government and, in particular, its Labour wing with the economic reality we are mired in.

The Irish Examiner is to be congratulated for publishing Shaun Connolly’s article (Jul 4) and also Victoria White’s article (Jul 5).

Pop group Steps brought the curtain down on another excellent Live at the Marquee concert series, but surely it’s time Cork City Council took steps to improve paths leading from the venue.

Eamon Gilmore, in telling us that the right of gay couples to marry is the civil rights issue of this generation, is being less than candid in his ambition to sever the connection between sex, procreation and the stability and welfare of the nation’s children.

The revelations that Barclays and possibly other banks were involved in attempted price fixing for London interbank interest rates should serve as a timely reminder of how the self-regulated market has left the world economy in a mess and is rotten to the core.

In the light of the strenuous recent denials by Messrs Ahern, Dempsey and Cullen, of any responsibility for the e-voting machines debacle which cost the taxpayer north of €55m, perhaps the saying that “success has a thousand fathers, while failure is an orphan” is apt?

The 2007 Linguist Survey of the Gaeltacht found that Irish had 15-20 years remaining as a community language without a change in the current Statepolicy, best described by Prof Joe Lee as ‘letting the language die by stealth’.

It is good to see that John McCarthy, who survived five years of brutal captivity in Lebanon at the hands of Islamic terrorists, has not been deterred from returning to the Middle East to expand his knowledge and understanding of that troubled region.

I note that Eamon Gilmore believes that the time has come to recognise ‘gay marriage’.

British Prime Minster David Cameron must be commended on his stance in relation to the EU.