I concur with correspondent Dick Spicer, of Citizens to Separate Church and State, who asserts that the President’s religious oath is a violation of equal rights. 

It’s ironic that we celebrate the nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25, because nobody knows when Jesus was born. This observance was not general until the latter part of the fourth century.

I think it’s ludicrous that out Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan has pledged nearly €3 million of taxpayers money towards reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, due to the massive destruction caused during the 50 day war between Israel and Hamas in which 2,145 Palestinian citizens lost their lives.

Pat O’Connor ( Letters, October 6) is only tinkering with the issues when he says changing the rules in relation to the kick out will change the “mass defence system” ruining Gaelic football.

A company employed to install water meters has claimed in the High Court that its workers are at risk due to allegedly violent protests in North Dublin.

An in-depth study of the Dublin property market has found that Dublin 6 was the most popular area to buy a property during the first half of this year, with 346 sales recorded between January and June.

John Bellew is wrong to say that “the country was brought to the brink of bankruptcy, in 2008, by a single decision taken on one particular autumn night” [Letters, March 15].

Cork City Council has given the go-ahead for a major c 200,000 sq ft office development plan at Albert Quay, Cork.

At least we were not alone in treating orphans and children belonging to unmarried mothers abominably in the past.

We are all saddened by Nelson Mandela’s death but it was interesting to see the British media try to rewrite history to make it appear their government was anti-apartheid and pro-Mandela.

It’s absurd that when vulnerable adults and children are facing cutbacks to the availability of medical cards, etc, our Government has borrowed millions to give as aid to foreign countries.

Your editorial (Aug 25) endorses Bill O’Herlihy’s Béal na Bláth recommendation that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil should form a single party.

As a friend of Syria (as supported by the Government), Ireland should take in between 50 and 100,000 refugees from Syria.

The Roman Catholic Church has canonised 813 people who were killed by Muslims in 1480, because they were Christians.

Diarmuid O’Flynn says the promissory notes ‘deal’ “being trumpeted as a triumph by the Government” is an oversell (Letters, Mar 9).

Unlike many other countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, Portugal, etc., who insist the bulk of their overseas aid to needy countries must be used to purchase goods from manufacturing agents in donors country.

With the disclosures by the St Vincent de Paul Association that 100,000 citizens approached them last year for support, and head teachers saying many pupils come to school without a breakfast, it’s absurd that our government has to borrow money to give to other countries as aid.

Dr Michael Pravica is right when he reminds all of us of “the fact that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and other fascist WWII dictators, left a devastating legacy of racism, hatred, and evil in their wake” (Letters, Feb 4).

Your editorial (Nov 30) asking all of us, and especially those at the top of the power pyramid, to “learn a lesson on concentrated media ownership” is a point well made.

Gardaí in Dublin have arrested a man in relation to shots that were fired outside the Donaghmeade home of Real IRA boss Alan Ryan, on the day he was buried.

In her letter of Oct 11, Cllr Fiona Kerins says that we in Ireland ‘scored much better than the big two’ — France and Germany — in some past ‘mathematical metric’ that assessed how each country was doing economically. The fact that Ireland is now bankrupt highlights the failings of that particular mathematical metric.

Your editorial (Oct 2) on the subject of whether child benefit should go to well-paid people raises the question of why child benefit is not subject to income tax.

It can be argued that the film The Innocence of Muslims is offensive pornography which denigrates the beliefs of billions of fellow human beings, and that the makers are guilty of a gross abuse of the right to free speech.

A brother of murdered dissident republican Alan Ryan and another man have been charged with firearms offences as part of a garda investigation in to the murder of Dublin man Michael Kelly in 2011.

A brother of murdered dissident republican Alan Ryan and another man have been charged with firearms offensives as part of a garda investigation in to the murder of Dublin man Michael Kelly in 2011.

I agree with Leo Armstrong (Letters, Jul 4) that what happened in relation to our debt situation at the recent summit of EU leaders was more due to Spain and Italy than it was to Ireland.

NAMA has issued a list of more than 300 properties to Dublin City Council which could be used to accommodate Priory Hall residents.

FINE GAEL presidential candidate Gay Mitchell must believe we all have a short memory span because he was very explicit in his reference to the electorate who voted ‘No’ in overwhelming numbers after the first Lisbon Treaty in 2008.

IT’S reported that the American authorities are now seeking the extradition of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi the alleged Lockerbie Bomber, claiming he was not properly punished or he only served 10 years in custody. John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the United States, said Megrahi should have received the death penalty.

HAVING parachuted Martin McAleese into a position as a senator, Justice Minister Alan Shatter has announced that he has appointed President McAleese’s husband to oversee a committee set up to clamp down on any state interaction with the notorious work houses.

SAM SIMPSON tells us that Finland quickly rebuilt their economy and their country after a collapse in the ’90s ‘thanks largely to generous spending on education, which accounts for 7% of GDP’ (Letters, April 21).

A Belfast man who was involved in two robberies, one where a security guard was stabbed and another where a knife was held to the throat of a cashier, has received a six-year sentence with two suspended.

MOST of your readers will be aware of companies setting up collection depots weekly in hotels and community centres to buy “old and unwanted gold”.

IN his letter (January 14), James McGrath takes me to task for my “mistaken” opinions blaming the public sector for what he calls the unprecedented fiscal challenges facing the country.

IN his letter (July 9), Anthony C Leeding conveyed the “best wishes of the British people” to Ireland on the occasion of the Lisbon Treaty vote.

THE $185 billion spent so far on the war in Iraq would go a long way to wipe out poverty and save, instead of destroying, at least 100,000 lives.

Gardai have arrested three men following separate drugs seizures in Cork and Dublin this morning.