GIVEN how many election promises are being ripped up to pay for the bank bailout, I propose a tax on political U-turns.

SO, Michael Healy-Rae is complaining about paying the money for the mystery Dáil calls when he says: “I’m paying back money I don’t owe.”

CHRISTY Carr (March 2) says science can’t explain everything.

SOMETIMES, the simplest things sum up the state of a country.

I SEE that the White House has condemned the release of classified reports on Afghanistan because they might endanger US troops lives.

A FIANNA Fáil inquiry into banking? No thanks. They’ve spent enough taxpayers’ money propping up the banks, paying off a financial regulator who was asleep at the wheel and setting up NAMA.

IN response to Kathy Sinnott’s letter on water charges (August 31), I’d like to give an example at the business I work for.

FOREIGN Minister Micheál Martin obviously doesn’t get how democracy works. He says that “parties opposed to the (Lisbon) treaty have no mandate to continue working against the best interests of the country”.

THIS country has a lot to be ashamed of, but I worry are we in danger of being constantly negative and thinking we have little power other than to wring our hands and cry about the past.

IF Fianna Fáil’s ill-conceived blasphemy law had already been passed, it would have been broken all over the country by anyone who had read, watched or heard the testimony from people like Christine Buckley and thousands of others who had suffered as children.

IN his letter headlined ‘Was anti-Americanism part of Dell’s problem?’ (January 15), Brendan Cafferty shows he is either very poorly informed or just likes to throw mud at causes he doesn’t like regardless of facts.

WHILE I share the feelings of Muntadar al-Zeidi, who threw his shoes at President Bush during the latter’s visit to Iraq on Sunday, I was not impressed by your report next day (December 14).

IN his letter (September 23), Michael Job asks if someone would explain what the Corrib gas pipeline protest is about, and refers to these people as NIMBYS who “want to go back to a medieval existence”.

IN his letter (August 13), Emmet Dunphy asks where were all the Irish anti-war protesters when Russiaattacked Georgia?

AFTER all the lies and bullying in the referendum campaign, we now have to endure the lies about why we voted no.

I WAS outraged recently to read that the minister for transport issued permission for aircraft carrying weapons and munitions to land in Ireland no less than 1,495 times last year. That is an average of four aircraft per day.

SO people are surprised at the Government’s handling of the Shannon-Heathrow link? Well, let’s compare and contrast with another route they do support — Shannon-Iraq.

FOREIGN Minister Dermot Ahern says the EU parliament committee engaged in political point-scoring in its report on US military flights through Shannon.

Peace activists involved in monitoring the US military use of Shannon Airport have refused to accept US assurances about controversial CIA flights using the Co Clare facility.

A PLANE used by the United States for an alleged illegal snatch of a terrorist suspect passed through Shannon during the operation, it has been revealed.

IT has been reported that the jet used by the US authorities to transport prisoners for torture has been seen using Shannon airport.

GEORGE W BUSH is scheduled to visit Ireland this weekend, despite widespread abhorrence in this country of his belligerent foreign policy and, more particularly, of the illegitimate and immoral occupation of Iraq.

SO, the gardaí can knock on every door in the Shannon area and quiz the residents about who lives there and what threat they might pose to President George W Bush.

WHAT more do we expect the Iraqis to endure under the occupation? Thousands have been jailed and held without formal charge or visits from families and lawyers.

WHEN I saw a picture of a US Marine Corps KC-130 at Baldonnel recently, I was disgusted. We have handed over another airstrip to the US war machine.

ANTI-WAR groups have called on the Government to acknowledge it made a mistake by allowing US troops and weapons pass through Shannon Airport during the continuing conflict in Iraq.

TIM Hourigan (Irish Examiner letters, Sept 8) asked the chilling question: “How many of the bombs that fell on Iraq went via ‘neutral’ Ireland?

NOW that it has been confirmed by State documents that missiles containing high explosives came through Shannon airport, why won’t the state come clean and tell us just how often this occurred, and to whose benefit? During the massive military build-up and bombardment of Iraq there was a huge number of chartered cargo flights working for the military. Indeed the US air mobility command spent $650 million hiring civilian aircraft to move weapons, etc., for the war.

A senior health official who was doused with petrol and set on fire two nights ago in Limerick is today still recovering in hospital.

LOCAL TD and Junior Justice Minister Willie O’Dea last night blamed the loss of €3m worth of business to Shannon airport on the recent protest attacks on US military aircraft.

IN the beginning, a handful of peace activists were camped outside Shannon Airport.

THE last hours of the controversial Shannon peace camp were difficult for the despondent protesters who knew the end was near.

SECURITY concerns are the only reason for the Aer Lingus decision to no longer cater for children travelling alone, the airline's chief executive said yesterday.

KEY workers at Shannon Airport are considering a boycott of all planes carrying Gulf-bound US forces.

HUNDREDS of anti-war protestors marched on Shannon airport yesterday in protest at the continued use of the airport by the US Air Force in preparation for possible war in the Gulf.

The four members of the Irish environmental group chained on the Sellafield visitors' centre have come down peacefully from the three-storey building.

AER RIANTA and the gardaí have launched investigations into how an anti-war protester breached security at Shannon airport and vandalised a US Air Force jet without being detected.