LET’S not permit the spin to get a hold. The GRA was absolutely right to voice its anger and to call things by their proper names. Fianna Fáil has been in power too long, and power corrupts.

I READ with interest Fergus Finlay’s column (July 14) on the nature of our low regard for TDs and the functioning of the Dáil. One doesn’t have to search far for reasons for this.

GARDAÍ raid a radio station looking for names, the State broadcaster makes a grovelling apology, an artist is interviewed under caution — all because of some paintings of Brian Cowen.

YOU reported recently that the cost of flying Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Defence Minister Willie O’Dea to Texas to meet Michael Dell last December was more than €164,000, even though the cost per person on a scheduled service would have been less that €1,000. The Charvet shirt philosophy hasn’t gone away.