HAVING been closely involved in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland (NYOI) since its inception in 1970, I can empathise with Anne Ralph’s disappointment at the decision of the board to amalgamate its two existing youth orchestras (Irish Examiner letters, April 23).

MARY T CLEARY (Irish Examiner, January 17) claims that fatherless children lack discipline as a result of the absence of a male figure in their lives.