SOME 500,000 people are unemployed and with almost no prospect of getting family-sustaining jobs in the near future.

WHILE the pundits deliberate on whether, or not, Irish people have the capacity to cope with the staggering consequences of the bank bailout, it is relevant to point out that the scale of it now exceeds the GDP in 2010 of eight other member states of the EU.

RUAIRÍ QUINN wants to see half of the schools currently under church patronage moved to an alternative guardianship. If promoting pluralism is one of the reasons for this change, then that logic should operate in other spheres, especially in the political arena.

THE fact that civil servants can take days off for obscure reasons and avail of holidays at public expense without having to be accountable contrasts with the way the income of people of social welfare has been cut with one stroke of a pen.

THE following is a true incident. A Census official delivered the forms to a man’s door and the man asked him what the Census was all about.

ONE of the advocates of the Mater site for the Children’s Hospital controversy admitted that the physical plant of Our Lady’s Crumlin is not fit for purpose, (despite the heroic work of the staff) — and that the hospital should be closed down ASAP.

OFFICIAL figures for exports show two starkly contrasting case histories in our pharmaceuticals and computer manufacturing sectors.

ARE we now witnessing the first summersault of our new Taoiseach, Enda Kenny?

PAY levels in Ireland’s small firms have dropped by 5% since 2008 according to the Small Firms Association.

THANK you for your concern regarding the Frank McCourt museum in our building here in Hartstonge Street, Limerick.