PAUL MILLS is the latest observer to note the giveaway of our oil and gas resources, as reported in the Irish Examiner (August 18).

AS your special investigation (August 31) makes clear, the sex trade is thriving in Ireland and Irish men are paying to have sex with trafficked women.

BRIAN MCKNIGHT (Letters, August 31) asks if “prudence counted for anything during the last 14 years”, when he objects to “the rest of us” bailing out people who “lost the run of themselves”.

IF I had a hat, I would take it off for your columnist Fergus Finlay, for his excellent article (Opinion, August 30) and how he related ruling class attitudes during the 19th century Great Hunger to some of the laissez-faire ones today.

EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn should stop agonising over the exact university qualifications of our maths teachers and ask, instead, just why have national schools stopped teaching the Multiplication Table, and who made the decision to drop it?

I REFER to your Page One article (August 30) entitled “Welfare fraud crackdown saves €345m”.

RECENTLY, VE Barrett (Letters, August 24) suggested a Margaret Thatcher would be good for Ireland.

THE opening up of Croke Park by the GAA to soccer and rugby in 2007 was universally hailed as a positive step in helping to bring together the different traditions on this island.

I LIVED in Ireland for five years recently and was struck by how patriarchal Irish society is.

YOUR Page One article (August 27) nearly took my breath away, regarding the cost to the taxpayer of one corncrake, together with a photo of the bird.