The treatment of our august banking institutions by the Oireachtas Committee does the banks a great disservice.

You are to be congratulated on taking the debate on the Seanad seriously, (Editorial, Sept 3) – and calling for others to do so.

Back in the glorious 60s days of beautiful, magical pop music, a band whose members did not play their own instruments would have been treated with contempt and laughed into oblivion.

In the Government’s main statement of its reasons for trashing the Seanad, Minister Richard Bruton, cites as part of the main viciousness of the institution that ‘… the final 11 seats in the Seanad are hand-picked by the Taoiseach of the day, who can parachute individuals directly into a seat without reference to any electorate, large or small.’

The Independent Resistance Group formed by James Delvaney deserves the support of every credit union in the country.

The mantra from Labour has been: ‘We must communicate better!’ Sometimes, the person with whom one wishes to communicate no longer wishes to hear.

I read Brian Daniels’ letter (‘Psychiatry doesn’t deserve its status’ on Tuesday).

A “new politics” certainly.

The investigation by the Vatican into clerical child abuse is a whitewash as it should have been carried out by non-Catholic secular lawyers of the highest integrity and not by senior Catholic clergymen.

The Franco-German motor is moving into overdrive — we are heading for yet another EU treaty, driven by Merkel and Sarkozy.

THE lay citizen, desperately trying to inform himself and herself, will be under-impressed by the latest round of the Berlin/Paris “pas de deux”. So, too, will the markets, but they at least will be able to make money on their pessimism.

ONE of the advocates of the Mater site for the Children’s Hospital controversy admitted that the physical plant of Our Lady’s Crumlin is not fit for purpose, (despite the heroic work of the staff) — and that the hospital should be closed down ASAP.

WHEN the ship of state is sinking, clearly it should be “all hands to the pumps”.

WE got the mess this fading Government left behind, not because of any flaws in our political system or institutions but because thousands of our fellow-citizens voted for them.

IN his letter (April 14), Raymond Lloyd supposedly corrects me by suggesting Tomás MacCurtain was murdered, not executed.

HAVING a lash at the unions, or indeed any scapegoat, is very enjoyable (Editorial, November 4). But it does not sort out the crisis – it will merely exacerbate it.

WHO or what do Environment Minister John Gormley and Senator Dan Boyle think we are?

THE growing perception that Labour and Fine Gael are driving in opposite directions on the key issue of the banks may be the battered raft on which the current Government hopes to avoid drowning.

MY abiding memory of the reportage of the Fianna Fáil árd fheis will be of the 9pm RTÉ News on Saturday (February 28). There was an acutely embarrassed David Davin-Power boxed in, jostled, squeezed and almost smothered by a family-photo array of FF local election candidates. Elderly, suited, male — and very much past it. All leering at the camera. The reassembled cast of the iconic horror movie Night of the Living Dead.

IN relation to recent polls, pointing now with some consistency towards deep unease about the Government out here in the real world, what is at issue is not popularity, but confidence.

IF Germany or France could have voted no, the Lisbon Treaty would be beyond resurrection.

WITH a combination of Jack Lynch’s pure goodness, Charlie Haughey’s intelligence and Bertie Ahern’s ruthlessness, Brian Cowen seems to have the potential to be the best Taoiseach since Sean Lemass.

WHILE the Beatles and Elvis had a far greater number of high quality songs, some touches by Led Zeppelin were magic from heaven. They were to music what George Best was to ball-dribbling and the Rolls Royce and Ferrari are to motoring.

WHILE it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that a computer will beat all the best human brains together at chess, there is no way it will ever come up trumps at contract bridge or solve a cryptic crossword. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Bill Gates.

IN reply to Minister McDowell's claim that there has been gross exaggeration surrounding some asylum cases, we'd like to ask him if the manner of Olunkunle Elunkanlo's arrest and deportation was grossly exaggerated by people on the moral high ground.

COULD anyone explain why the Government gave €40 million to the GAA for Croke Park, while talks are ongoing about reducing funding for carers and home helps?

BERTIE AHERN has been praised for his negotiating skills in Europe.