Congratulations to Michelle Murphy for her excellent article regarding people’s over-use of smartphones (Irish Examiner, September 28).

In the light of centuries of misogyny and patriarchy exhibited by the Christian churches, especially but not uniquely the Roman Catholic Church, under the guise of divine command, it is disappointing to read Margaret Hickey’s defence (Irish Examiner, 31 August 31) of banning Fr Tony Flannery from speaking on ‘Church property’.

Your correspondent Ciaran O Raghallaigh (Letters, March 16) disputes my assertion that neither the European Union (EU) nor United Nations (UN) state that a child has a right to a father and mother ‘where possible’.

Senator Ivana Bacik, (Irish Examiner, February 28) like many others supporting the same-sex marriage referendum, says the proposed re-definition of marriage is just one of a series of changes over the centuries.

Well done to Suzanne Harrington for drawing our attention to the funding of animal circuses by the Arts Council. 

Dr Kevin McCarthy’s [Irish Examiner, January 2] defence of Israeli policies cannot go unchallenged. 

Tuesday morning’s news bulletins on RTÉ (October 7) led with an incident at Dublin airport where two taxiing Ryanair aircraft brushed wings.

I can sympathise with the sentiments of Isaac Barr, of Michigan, with regard to living in Haifa as he did in 1948 as a 14-year-old (Irish Examiner, Wednesday, September 10).

I am 71 years old and I live with my wife. Both of us are in poor health.

Michael Clifford begins his article on the family law courts (June 23) by stating that the evolution of the family has added complications when relationships break down.

In the rush to fix yet another outrage on the Catholic Church and rush to judgement across the global press it is clear the usual commentariat have learned nothing from the Fr Reynolds debacle.

The implications of potential criminal charges against Gerry Adams for the future of peace in Northern Ireland draw timely attention to the loose ends that have as yet not been woven into the peace process.

I refer to the article about Emmet Stagg by Shaun Connolly (Irish Examiner, Dec 17) ‘€97k TD: I’d make more as a plumber’.

I always have great faith in the generosity of people. This faith was enhanced by an experience I had on Thursday, Dec 12.

If politicians doubt why they are reviled, all they have to do is look at the glaring contradictions between their rhetoric and the facts of Irish political life.

An article on Monday, Aug 19, in the Irish Examiner re the reduction of State pensions, will infuriate every OAP in the country who in the 1970s and ’80s had more than 60% deducted from their wages with a combination of income tax and PRSI.

The culture of ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ persists in Ireland.

Kenny’s position that “abortion legislation is about saving lives” (30/4) could hardly be further from the truth in that its furthest reach is the X Case.

Suzanne Harrington (Life/Style, Feb 11) says same-sex marriage is as good a milieu for raising children as heterosexual marriage, provided they receive “love, security and respect”.

According to John O’Hara (Letters, Jan 24), the thousands of people who attended the pro-life rally in Dublin last Saturday are extremists who are backed, if not manipulated by, the Catholic Church.

Just about one year ago, the people of Ireland were asked to give more power to the Oireachtas to investigate “matters deemed to be of public importance”.

Minister O’Reilly must be congratulated for his wisdom in announcing that the “burden” of cuts must fall on the “better paid” and not the sick and vulnerable.

The deluge of ill-informed comment on the Catholic Church’s actions in holding the line on its core teaching shows no signs of abating.

With the Government desperate for novel ways of imposing further taxes they should look at introducing an NCT for supermarket trolleys.

FERGUS Finlay (Opinion, Nov 29) takes on what he calls “the myths and mantras” around raising taxes in a time of recession.

THIS election is really rocking the system in that the people are now poised to disregard all the media pressure and hype including that of the national broadcaster to elect a rank outsider as our ninth president.

I WROTE to your newspaper in 2007 pointing out that the boom was over and the bizarre sense of entitlement in the public service would ruin us.

ENDA Kenny has shown himself to be red of tooth and claw in his tirade against the Church and its “dysfunctional elite”.

IN the understandable furore over the Cloyne report I find it strange that the same level of outrage and media coverage never arises when abuse takes place outside religious institutions.

I WENT to visit the great fiesta of the Tall Ships in Waterford last weekend.

WE have a new government and there is a sense of hope in the country again.

AMAZINGLY Bertie Ahern still raises his head and his voice over the parapet in pathetic attempts to exonerate himself for his failures of leadership which has landed this country in ruin for at least a generation.

THAT there is something rotten in the state hardly needs saying. However, the eradication of rot requires corrective action from the inside out rather than the outside in via bailouts, etc.

SO the Greeks are bearing gifts to our shores. Well, obviously not the Greeks but everyone else in Europe is to give us the digout we don’t really need or want.

IT is hard to believe after so much comment and coverage that the Government is still hell bent on fixing our economy without touching the more privileged and protected among us.

READING your letters page, as well as opinion from the usual media commentariat regarding the Neil Prendeville incident, one wonders how different the tone and content would have been had a member of the clergy been involved?

IT sounds a bit provocative, to say the least, to hear Brian Lenihan tell us the economy won’t be fixed by driving trucks into the gates of Leinster House.

THE issue of female ordination should not be combined or confused with a campaign for greater accountablility and lay participation in the running of Catholic parishes and dioceses.

IT is a pity that Ian Paisley’s blind religious bigotry directed at the Catholic Church can get such free rein in the press and with little or no counter comment.

THE issue of clerical abuse in the Irish Catholic Church has unearthed depths of depravity and corruption that those of us who soldier in the ranks of the lay faithful can scarcely fathom.

LOW-PAID workers – those whose wages for a 40-hour week start and end below €20,000 – should march on the headquarters and regional offices of their unions and demand a refund of their contributions for the past 10 years.

IT is hard to see the wood for the trees given the deluge of claims, arguments and of course statistics being bandied about by all sides in the ongoing economic debate.

TO use a word she is particularly partial to, it would be “appropriate”, to say the least, if Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan took appropriate measures to convince the public that the profligacy over which the board of Fás presided would not be repeated.

IT is usually said the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from it.