Could we please put an end to the myth that Sean Gallagher’s presidential campaign was derailed by a tweet.

I sympathise with the views expressed by John Lyons (Letters, Apr 30) but the fact is there is a simple system for dealing with TDs expenses which requires no vouchers or receipts, no monitoring by civil servants and is absolutely foolproof. It is called zoning.

On the question of Enda Kenny’s Davos comment it is interesting that after the Wall Street crash, an economist put it down to the fact that “enough people were persuaded that the status quo would continue indefinitely”.

GIVEN that the Tutankhamun exhibition is due to open at the RDS next week I thought I might share a little-known fact with you and your readers.

POOR Senator Donie Cassidy having to live on €65,000 a year or so.

TO Senator Shane Ross’s credit, in his latest book he is being consistent in exposing waste in the public sector, but I wonder what his policy is on abolishing the Seanad as recommended by Colm McCarthy in the Bord Snip report?

I THINK Ivor Callely is brilliant. Consider how much it would have cost the taxpayer to set up a tribunal to look into abuses of the Oireachtas expenses system.

I COULD have some sympathy for Seán Fitzpatrick — not much, but some.

IVOR Callely is the symptom now for the disease. The Oireachtas, from the beginning, has ringfenced itself from the justice system as it applies to all others.

JACQUELINE Cotter (Letters, March 18) believes “it’s time to dismantle the Catholic Church in Ireland”.

AS the dole queues grow, so does depression, according to Terry Prone (February 1).

IN every society there are truths that are so basic, so fundamental, that they cannot be questioned. Dare I hope one good thing that may come out of the present financial crises is the realisation that these truths are the ones that most need to be questioned.

RTÉ’s performing groups, like so many others, have accepted the inevitability of pay cuts.

WHILE reading your article on China (December 30) I was reminded of Charles de Gaulle’s prediction many years ago: “It will not be any European statesman who will unite Europe: Europe will be united by the Chinese.”

BERTIE’S autobiography ... not bad, but tell me who is it about?

ISN’T it marvellous?

THE fundamental question is whether we need, or want, the Seanad. If, as I believe, the answer is no, then the question of reform does not arise.

YOU reported recently that the Seanad was still on holiday. This left me puzzled — how would one know?

TWO thing are remarkable about Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s recent appearance before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service.

BRITISH Premiership football clubs sometimes enter transfer contracts along the following lines: “we will pay you X amount of money now and if, and when, the player completes 200 appearances for us we will then, and only then, pay you an additional amount.”

THOUGH absolutely non-party political, as I have always been and intend so to remain, I notice the top three cabinet members – Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan – have two things in common: they are clearly unequal to the task and all three inherited their seats from their fathers.

PICTURE the scene. You are very busy at work but at 1pm you manage to snatch a moment to ring home.

NOW that we have seen the first spouse-to-spouse kidney transplant in Irish history — bless them both and may they do well — dare we hope that Munster Rugby will take heart and give a Kidney transplant to the IRFU?

AS a matter of public safety, truck drivers are prevented by law from driving in excess of a specified number of hours.

I WATCHED with interest the recent edition of Hidden History (RTÉ, October 23), entitled ‘The Killings at Coolacrease’.

AS a blow-in — I’ve only been here for 38 years — I was taking an English friend on a walking tour round my adopted city of Cork when he pointed out something which we all take for granted.

ISN’T it time we stopped swallowing economic theory whole, especially the false notion that something as complex as inflation can be controlled by such a crude mechanism as progressive increases in interest rates?

HOW to begin?

IF the turnout in the upcoming general election is a mere 25%, we will throw up our hands and question the mandate of whatever government is formed.

IN view of the gun lobby’s trumpeting of the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms, despite the Virginia massacre, let’s put this ‘right’ in context.

I HAVE two documents in front of me.

IN THE aftermath of Saturday’s riots in Dublin, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that it was known in his constituency on Friday that trouble was likely at the Orange Order march.

WHEN I was going to school we used to get questions such as: “Water from a tap is pouring into a sink at a rate of two pints per minute. It is draining out of the sink at a rate of 1.25 pints per minute. If the sink has a capacity of 20 pints, how long will it take to fill the sink?”

SINCE the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of US casualties has reached the not insignificant total of 2,000 dead.

DO you think Bertie has finally seen Deloitte, or is he still out of Touche with reality?

IN previous correspondence, I bemoaned the fact that the museum at Collins Barracks had given no recognition to the Volunteers executed at the facility during the War of Independence.

WHEN George W Bush and Tony Blair ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, they promised to bring peace and stability to the country.

I READ with interest the column by Peter Levy (Irish Examiner, County News, April 19) on republicanism and section 31 of the Broadcasting Act.

HERE are the facts.