The ending of the Cork-Swansea ferry is a blow for tourism in the southwest.

The news that TDs have been paid another staggering amount in expenses — about €6m — should come as no surprise to an electorate that has become wearyingly accustomed to paying other people’s bills.

We are told that the country is going to have a serious crisis with all senior gardaí leaving the force shortly.

I write cringe riddled as I listened to our newly crowned “Minister for Septic Tanks and Household taxes” Phil Hogan, deliver an awkward justification for such taxes to our rural people, knowing as he surely must, that massive gaps exist in European and domestic legislation surrounding water quality, standards and treatment.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has millions of euro to spend on the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June but not on education, health, special needs for the elderly and children, and support services for the homeless.

On Feb February 2, the VHI announced price hikes ranging from 6% to 12%. Last November, they added on a 2% increase.

The sneaky Direct Interest Retention Tax became aptly known by the acronym “DIRT Tax”.

Colette Browne’s cynicism (Opinion, Feb 8) regarding the hypocrisy displayed by a member of the banking elite is sincere, but she didn’t pinpoint the real conundrum of our money system.

According to your recent editorial (Feb 7), your newspaper has a long record of campaigning for the rights and services for people with an “intellectual disability”.

In recent weeks articles have appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines that seem to glorify fox hunting, an activity that involves people riding roughshod over the rights and livelihoods of farmers.