CONGRATULATIONS on your editorial (August 12) — some powerful images indeed.

IN response to “Mapping out power and responsibility” (Letters, August 9) I, too, can see Ireland on the international map and its size in relation to Germany, France, and the USA.

IN your August 12 edition, you had an article entitled “Gallagher anxious to sever links with FF”.

HOW shallow and shaming is the notion that Gay Byrne could be considered as a viable contender for leading representative of the nation, home and abroad?

AS I grew up, soccer and GAA were played in equal measure within my area.

WHEN we were young there were no cruciates.

THE recent special report on mental health was a welcome contribution to the ongoing campaign to improve mental health services in Ireland.

GAY Byrne seems acceptable to some people as President, on the basis that he is not a politician and thus is deemed not to be part of the old Ireland that failed.

WILL it end up being a case of “Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!”?

I FIND it extraordinary that Sean Scully (Letters, August 11) somehow manages to lay the blame for Britain’s public disorder at the feet of Margaret Thatcher, who resigned over 20 years ago.