An old-fashioned Cork senior championship clash in Clonakilty yesterday, with Bandon holding out for a terrific win over Newcestown after a closely-fought battle.

West Cork derbies in the Cork SHC are a bit like buses; you wait years for one to arrive and then you get a mouth-watering one two years in-a-row.

As highlighted by your report (“Up to 80,000 homes exempt from property tax until 2021”, Irish Examiner, April 6), Fine Gael’s attitude to taxation displays utter indifference to fairness, and its failure to address the anomalies that the local property tax (LPT) has thrown up is a disgrace and may even be discriminatory.

Your report on the intention of Cork County Council to introduce new waste management by-laws states: “Under the new regime, people who can not prove how they are disposing of their waste could face fines of up to €2,500.” (‘Possible prosecutions for illegal dumping in Cork’s Ellis’s Yard’, Irish Examiner, 13/4)

Newcestown 1-13 St. Finbarr’s 0-14: It was 14 scores each yesterday in Ballygarvan, but in the end, it was Trevor Horgan’s first-half goal for Newcestown that was the difference in the first round of the Cork SHC.

They share more than a surname, principally a red-blooded passion for Cork GAA, with a combined 88 years of astonishing service to the cause.

Paul O’Donovan will be the next manager of the Nemo Rangers senior footballers, though his start date is as yet unknown.

It took the intervention of his brother to make sure that the mother of a teenage IRA officer killed in the infamous 1920 Kilmichael ambush received a financial award.

In a division where football is the religion of choice, Kanturk’s victory in the Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling final last Saturday evening was a watershed result.

Public meetings are being held in Lauragh, Co Kerry, to consider “the future of Lauragh”, the village near the Kenmare entrance to the Beara peninsula considered to be one of the most picturesque in the South-West.

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Sterling yesterday surrendered most of the ground it had gained after Theresa May outlined her hard Brexit vision for Britain on Tuesday, as investors looked to Irish property stocks as potential winners from the UK’s rupture with Brussels.

"Saluting the boy from the gable wall" - Sean Kelly looks at the life of Joe McDonagh, former GAA president and All-Ireland winner

The Housing Finance Agency and the Department of the Environment are reported to be providing funding, our money, to voluntary housing body Túath to purchase 117 homes in Dublin for people on the social housing list.

Listening to Sean Fleming answering questions on RTÉ television news last week regarding “red line” issues, it became abundantly clear that Fianna Fáil have not changed one iota.

Mr Denis O’Brien’s legal action against members of the Dáil’s Committee on Procedures and Privilege does send a shiver down the spine of anybody who cherishes democracy.

At the end of a week in which government ministers engaged shamelessly in a vote-buying exercise, making budget pledges that amount to at least €1.5bn, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy brought us all back to earth — 85 families were made homeless last month and the policies being pursued by those same government ministers are to blame.

With the reaction of our politicians to PSNI comments, I was reminded of the self-serving agenda of those we send to Dail Eireann.

Regarding the UN committee’s examination of Ireland’s human rights mechanisms, the chances of getting straight answers from the Government seem remote, given the testimony of Sean Sherlock, TD, at the hearing.

Regarding your report on the UN committee examining Ireland’s human rights mechanisms, the chances of getting straight answers, from the Government, to pertinent questions seem remote, given the testimony of Sean Sherlock, TD, at the hearing.

The same sex marriage ‘yes’ vote paints a picture of “tolerance” and a desire for equity — or does it?

There he is in typical pose, tearing out of defence at full stretch, about to hop the leather from his left hand and God help anyone blocking his path.

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, has stated that there are people in our community who are “allergic to work”.

Having read through your reports on the Siteserv controversy (Irish Examiner, April 24) — which seems to consist of little more than a ‘pass-the-parcel’ exercise by the central players — I was left with that familiar sense that ministers in Irish governments carry responsibility for nothing and are accountable to no-one.

The wires are buzzing with the latest Irish Water folly; the wasting of another €650,000 of our money on an ad’campaign called “From Cloud to Glass”. Proof, that this quango is firmly rooted in cloud cuckoo land.

The wires are buzzing with the latest Irish Water folly; the wasting of another €650,000 of our money on an advertising campaign called ‘From Cloud to Glass’.

Caitríona McClean’s outline of Fianna Fáil’s policy on water charges (Letters, March 14) fails to address the fact that the citizen already pays for water supply via VAT and road tax – introduced by none other than the party she supports.

The IMF came to town — not to bury us, but to praise us. There were hugs, handshakes and smiles all round, as our leaders duly kowtowed.

As hospitals brace themselves for industrial action, the country’s largest nursing union has called on the public to join in a major protest outside the Dáil today to highlight emergency department (ED) overcrowding.

You report that there is a special cabinet meeting planned for this month devoted to jobs (Irish Examiner, January 2).

If only people would do rather than just say. I refer to Fergus Finley’s letter (Irish Examiner, September 30 ) in which he reminds us that “One in ten children in Ireland” are living in low income households and “without access to basic necessities”.

Your recent article ‘Jobs plan a community service sentence’ demanded an immediate re-check to see where this was to happen, maybe North Korea or some other such off-the-wall dictatorship.

Reading that the Coalition will reduce income tax as a first priority following the exit from the bailout underlines how remarkable it is that there has not been a revolution here — yet.

The saddest aspect of the budget is Labour’s capitulation to Fine Gael’s far-right fiscal ideology — the poor must be punished.