I AGREE with Emmet Murphy (May 4) that it’s time for a serious debate about local government in Ireland.

SIPTU’s Jack O’Connor wants a new levy fund to create jobs.

THE island of Ireland has not had a Taoiseach of courage since the late John A Costello declared the state a Republic, or a statesman since the late Éamon de Valera.

THE Freedom of Information Act (FoI) is too often clubbed on the head by state agencies and left comatose as far as smaller community groups are concerned.

IN ITS efforts to re-introduce an extinct species, the Golden Eagle Trust is sadly advocating the killing of existing species. The trust’s website discourages farmers from threatening eagles by illegally poisoning foxes and suggests that they instead shoot them.

CONGRATULATIONS to Sean Óg Ó hAilpín on being awarded the Freedom of Cork.

HOW can Ireland recover when we’re still being ripped off?

SO, according to their president, the American people “can do whatever we set our mind to”, “because of who we are” — a master race, apparently, yet unable or unwilling to bring peace on earth, perhaps because unable or unwilling to love their enemies, as Christ, the sacrificial lamb, enjoined.