Syria isn’t the problem, the power of veto vested in permanent members of the UN Security Council is.

You report that “a complete ban on smoking in hospitals and on adjoining grounds in the Mid-West comes into force this Thursday” (Irish Examiner, May 29).

The treating of the Arts Council as a quango by the Government in their frantic effort to apply slash and cut tactics to save money is short sighted.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union quoted in their news update of May 29,”The IPU has teamed up with the Crisis Pregnancy Programme and the HSE to provide information to the public on the appropriate use of Emergency Hormonal Contraception(EHC) and to highlight its availability from pharmacies without a prescription. The campaign also aims to increase risk awareness of unplanned pregnancy among men and women.”

Your revelation (May 24) that State bodies access record levels of our private data is alarming.

Having spent 32 years with an international organisation, primarily in war zones, I would strongly support international intervention in the Syrian conflict to prevent the continuing killing of civilians.

The recent figures for retail sales in Apr show a decline of 1.5% compared to Mar 2012 and an annual decrease of 2.7%.

The homespun economics being trotted out to sell the stability treaty is both patronising and beginning to get more than a bit wearing.

Who is Shane Ross?

It is essential that the vote on tomorrow’s referendum is based on the content of the treaty and not on the extraneous issues that have been raised during the referendum debate.