A NUMBER of priests across the country have expressed their disappointment at how the Vatican has handled the fallout from the Murphy Report and the ongoing revelations of a global clerical abuse cover-up.

ACCORDING to your backpage worldapart column (May 13), “a Friesian bullock is set to break records as Britain’s tallest cow”.

TOM COOPER (Letters, January 14) makes a very compelling case why Her Britannic Majesty should not be welcomed to the Emerald Isle.

MANUS O’RIORDAN and Fr Iggy O’Donovan (Letters, December 24) point out some discrepancies in my letter (December 18) on the Taliban-style destruction of census records prior to 1901. Juxtaposition of the destruction of records during the War of Independence and Civil War, some gremlins and necessary editing of my letter presented the picture as obtained, which was not far removed from actual fact.

SO Brendan Cafferty regrets the loss of census returns (Letters, December 18) in the “inglorious destruction of the Custom House in the Civil War”.

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Fr Iggy O’Donovan’s view of Diarmuid Ferriter’s work and the job of historians (Letters, December 7).

THE managing director of Mercier Press, Clodagh Feehan, is upset that Diarmaid Ferriter’s major work, Judging Dev, has been circulated to the schools (Letters, December 5).

RÓNÁN MULLEN’S column (Irish Examiner, April 27) condemning Fr Iggy O’Donovan was nothing short of disgraceful.

IN his column (Irish Examiner, April 22), Ryle Dwyer cannot “understand the mentality” of those who had difficulties with Fr Iggy O’Donovan’s invitation to Rev Michael Graham to concelebrate Mass on Easter Sunday.

It is hard to understand the mentality of those who have made a fuss over Fr Iggy O’Donovan inviting the Reverend Michael Graham, a Church of Ireland Minister, to join in the celebration of Mass on Easter Sunday.

ALTHOUGH I must have written about 250,000 words since starting this column over four years ago, I’ve never had occasion to use the Irish word “lúdramán”. Perhaps I shouldn’t use it now either in this, my last column.

It is hard to understand the mentality of those who have made a fuss over Fr Iggy O’Donovan inviting the Reverend Michael Graham, a Church of Ireland Minister, to join in the celebration of Mass on Easter Sunday.

THE priest at the centre of a major ecumenical row has defended his decision to organise a concelebrated Mass involving three Catholic priests and a Church of Ireland minister on Easter Sunday.

ARCHBISHOP OF Armagh, Dr Sean Brady, and his Church of Ireland counterpart, Archbishop Robin Eames, have launched investigations into an Easter Sunday Mass in Co Louth where a Church of Ireland minister concelebrated with priests in a Catholic Church.

YOUR columnist Ryle Dwyer (Irish Examiner, October 15) says Eamon de Valera “used to decry the pernicious influence of money on American politics”. Very laudable, one might say.

IN his forecast of events for 2005, Fergus Finlay (Irish Examiner, December 28) makes one startling revelation.

YOUR editorial of Saturday (September 13) quite rightly takes ASTI leader Pat Cahill to task for his outlandish performance on the Marion Finucane programme last week.

WHILE both camps deserve credit for a lively Nice campaign, one individual, Dr Garret FitzGerald, stands head and shoulders over all others.