THE Seanad canvassing is under way and we are faced with getting a result which will reinforce the arguments for its abolition.

REGARDING the 50% rise in road deaths so far this year, the RSA and the gardaí are quick to take credit for falls in traffic casualties, so shouldn’t they be accepting the blame for increases? To blame complacent parents is a calumny.

JOHN MALLON asks where the “undertakings” and “safeguards” contained in the Lisbon Treaty on our corporation tax rate have gone (March 17).

HAVING read your report on the Ireland First group “Blueprint for recovery” (March 16), I sought out a copy and read it in great anticipation.

WITH regard to Right of Place, we are seeing a problematic lack of transparency similar to that of the Catholic Church bureaucracy, past Irish Governments, and others involved in the residential schools horror story.

THE cut-backs in St Patrick’s Day travel by government ministers is mere window dressing and a dodgy false economy.

MM Crualaoich’s call to scrap the carbon tax (letters, Wednesday, March 16) ignores the fact we have to make the transition to cleaner, more energy efficient and sustainable economy, in a way that considers the rights to livelihoods of future generations and of the other living beings on this planet.

I THOUGHT this new government was meant to be a break with the past?

JAMES GLEESON (March 15) should think again about giving a tumultuous “cead mile fáilte” to the visits of dignitaries as he puts it. A rogues gallery would be more appropriate.