SO, after almost a decade during which the US covered itself in disgrace with their misconceived and mishandled war in Iraq, the curtain has finally fallen on this long-running, blood-soaked farce.

IT might be a catalyst for real, positive change in the country if enough people refused to pay the property tax until the Croke Park deal is scrapped.

THE Fighting Irish — we are not fit to hold that title today.

THIS week, after nine years of war, the United States finally withdrew its forces from Iraq.

ARE the militant TDs who propose protests over the property charges trying to emulate the protests in Germany in the early 1930s?

APPOINTED as I am as a chaplain in a Catholic secondary school, I have been assigned to care for our pupils’ spiritual and moral well-being to the best of my ability, and so I feel it is my duty to respond to Colette Browne’s venting of spleen in favour of abortion (Opinion, Dec 14).

THE news of Ireland’s further depressed economy is a reminder that the recession is not just for Christmas but probably for life.

ACCORDING to the Oireachtas website, in October the average monthly expenses claimed by 15 TDs who have so far expressed their intention to not pay the household charge is €3,595, ranging from a low of €1,000 to the astounding €5,107.84 claimed by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

VINCENT J Lavery’s letter attacking those calling on citizens to refuse to pay the household charge (Dec. 19) is flawed.

WITH reference to your recent editorial on marriage, allow me to make a few points about human well-being and happiness.