The High Court has approved fresh bail terms for Kevin McGeever, aged 68, the former millionaire developer charged with wasting Garda time.

A property tycoon charged with falsely alleging he was kidnapped and held hostage after he vanished for eight months cannot afford to post bail, a court has been told.

Property tycoon, Kevin McGeever, charged with falsely alleging he was kidnapped and held hostage after he vanished for eight months cannot afford to post bail, a court has been told.

It has been said many times that the Oireachtas and governments have shirked an obligation placed on them by the Supreme Court in 1992 to legislate for the X case.

Brendan Ronayne says that city and county councillors should receive no pay and no expenses (Letters, Nov 19).

In her letter last Saturday, Caitríona McClean said that “the main reason that Mr Kenny is now the Taoiseach” was because of the “flawed system of reporting, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)”.

FIANNA Fáil’s Michael McGrath TD has called on the Government not to pay the €715 million bill to Anglo bondholders.

THE serious slide in support for Eamon Gilmore as a potential Taoiseach in this week’s RedC poll is proof that his popularity is based solely on his Dáil performances and the helpful soundbytes given to him by RTÉ.

IN his rather bizarre interpretation of the Civil Partnership Bill, Fr Tom Ingoldsby SDB claims it will legalise what he calls “sodomy” (Letters, June 23).

YOUR columnist Matt Cooper says (June 4) the Seanad is “a retirement home for politicians who have lost their Dáil seats.

IN his letter (April 28), Tom Kindlon asks in respect of the proposed Civil Partnership Bill: “Why are we being denied the chance to have our say in a referendum?”

I PREDICT that the “independent commentators” (Shane Ross, David McWilliams, et al) who are calling for a public inquiry into the banks will be the first people to complain 10 years from now when any such inquiry turns into a Flood Tribunal-style white elephant.

AT a time of national strife, when tens of thousands of private sector workers have lost their jobs and countless others have taken huge pay cuts, last Tuesday’s public sector strikes were nothing short of treason, and an insult to the public at large.

TRUE to form, John O’Donoghue’s resignation speech was petulant, bitter and deeply ungracious. There was no apology for any extravagance or excess on his part, no acknowledgement of the deep anger of the public at his behaviour. This was of no great surprise.

I NOTE that President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, despite the notable handicap of coming to office just 11 days before the close of nominations for the prize.

IN his letter (September 22), Daniel Harrington of Cóir says “the EU court, not the Irish people, will have the power to decide on important moral issues, such as abortion”.

IN his letter on EU workers’ rights (September 7), Martin Ferris says the solemn declaration on the issue contains “no new instruments to promote or protect workers’ rights” and it has “no meaningful legal status”.

THE NAMA proposal states that the banks will be paid for loans based on rising property values at some point in the future, thereby ensuring the taxpayer breaks even on the deal.

RTÉ radio is to be commended for their investigative piece on the anti-Lisbon group Cóir last Sunday (September 6).

IS it really too much to expect that people would take the time actually to read the McCarthy report before writing to newspapers to pontificate about its contents?

THE trade union movement, and in particular Jack O’Connor of SIPTU, continue to resist calls for public sector pay cuts by stating – without evidence – that just 10% of employees in the private sector have taken a pay cut.

AS an alternative to making large and necessary cutbacks to the public sector, Jack O’Connor of SIPTU has called for higher rates of income tax for all workers.

HOW sad that the last edition of Questions & Answers should have been spoiled by devoting the closing 10 minutes to a one-to-one puff piece with Brian Cowen.

THE storm over judges’ contributions to the pension levy is surely the greatest red herring to have been wheeled out since the beginning of the economic crisis.

AS a response to the recent local and European election results, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has vowed to re-organise and modernise the Fianna Fáil organisation to make it “fit for purpose”.

NOW that US President Barack Obama has revealed a tax plan which will damage US companies in Ireland to the tune of €2.5bn, is there any chance that those here who cheered him into office will apologise to those of us who (to coin a phrase) had the audacity to hope the other guy would win the election, for this very reason?

IN a week or so, more than 170 people have died as a result of the swine flu outbreak – leading to a global panic about its implications.

IN his letter (March 18), WB O’Flaherty insists that councillors Deirdre Forde and Chris O’Leary ought to resign their seats because they have recently resigned from their respective parties.

LIBERTAS has been keen to portray itself as a voice for ordinary people, standing up against the European “elites”. Now that it has launched itself as a political party, Declan Ganley has unveiled some of its leading members.

YOU can tell right-wing religious groups are scraping the bottom of the barrel when they have to resort to praising themselves in letters to the Irish Examiner.

THE Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and the Minister for Finance have called on us all to be “patriotic” and to support Irish business in the current economic climate.

FLORENCE CRAVEN has peddled more than a few bizarre ideas on your letters page, but her suggestion that Government backbenchers should get a bigger salary than opposition backbenchers is just plain daft (Letters, September 25).

LIBERTAS leader Declan Ganley opposes the Lisbon Treaty and a stronger EU. The US government opposes the Lisbon Treaty and a stronger EU, fearing it will threaten its political and economic dominance.

THE reaction of the Irish media to the news that Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter is pregnant highlighted the deep-rooted hypocrisy in our society around such issues.

FIANNA Fáil, in opposition, once infamously claimed that spending cuts would “hurt the old, the sick and the handicapped” before setting out to do just that in government.

IT WAS reported recently that Patricia McKenna has called on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to demand a halt to the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty by other member states, in the same way that the EU constitution was stalled immediately after the French and Dutch referendum defeats.

ONCE again I have to protest at your publication of outrageous allegations against the independent Referendum Commission.

I HAVE to object to the letter from John Mallon (‘Our power of veto will fade away under the treaty’, May 27) which not only highlighted the worst excesses of no campaign scaremongering, but also contained a series of outrageous attacks on a member of the judiciary.

IN his letter (April 25), Darren Mac an Phríora seems to adopt the bizarre tactics of the more extreme elements of the Irish language lobby by attacking politicians who have distinct policies on the language and praising those who have none at all.

KEVIN FOLEY (Letters, April 16) makes so many incorrect statements about the Lisbon treaty it would be difficult to address them all in one attempt.

ANN STAFFORD (Letters, March 15) singled out Gay Mitchell MEP for some rather unfair criticism.

WHAT does it say for the state of our democracy when a Taoiseach can be interviewed on the national broadcaster — as Bertie Ahern was recently — and say that the leaking of his correspondence with the Revenue was “a new low in Irish life”, while at the same time seeing nothing wrong with accepting the equivalent of up to €300,000 from private individuals.

IN his Christmas message, Pope Benedict XVI called for the Child Jesus to “bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions” to world conflicts, including “the whole of the Middle East — especially Iraq”.

IN your report (December 28) on the carbon footprint of various ministers, you stated in a caption under a photo of the Taoiseach — “Bertie Ahern: Driving to work costs him €3k a year”.