David Whitehead (Letters, Jan 13) asserts that Clare County Council has banned the natural gas extraction method called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking“ in response to a vocal minority of protesters.

AS a member of a profession which is now in danger of extinction, I feel it is necessary to highlight some of the detrimental consequences of the recent proposal by the Minister for Education and Skills to end the work of the guidance counsellor in second-level schools.

THOUGH in no way party political, I was delighted to see Fianna Fáil getting the kicking they so richly deserved in the last election.

OUR planet is under attack, not by aliens, but by our own ill-adjusted values.

GOOD for Colette Browne who highlighted the fact that “women are woefully underrepresented in our political system” (Opinion, Jan 18).

THE recent edition of Time Magazine featured the protestor as its Person of the Year.

I REFER to your report and editorial comment (Jan 17) on the 2012 HSE National Service Plan.

AT some stage the EU will pull the plug on further bailouts which will leave many countries like Ireland in a hard place.

ON behalf of the UCC Centre for Global Development I wish to apologise to your readers who came to hear Mary Robinson’s talk on Climate Justice post Durban on Wednesday, January 18, only to be turned away because there was not sufficient space for them in the lecture theatre.

I REFER to the recent letter in your paper from Stephen Faughnan from the Irish Property Owners Association (Jan 19).