Police in the North are continuing to investigate a stabbing incident in Belfast.

Pat Smullen was seen at his tactical best when guiding the Tracey Collins-trained Majestic Queen to a convincing two lengths win over Lady Cecil’s odds-on favourite Joyeuse in the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes in Leopardstown last night.

* John and Helen Fox will host a garden party at ‘Glencairn,’ Underwood, Rochestown, today from 11am to 5pm and local band, Ré Nua, will provide music from 3-5pm.

I’M in St Mary’s Abbey, at Glencairn, near Lismore, Co Waterford, which is home to 36 monastic nuns.

FRANKFIELD, CORK €259,000

IT appears extra cuts will be made to the ordinary working peoples’ income, by increasing VAT, a regressive tax that hurts the poorest the most and hardly hurts the well-off at all.

IN a recent report in your newspaper (Oct 1), Ann Cahill revealed that the EU /ECB /IMF troika had asked the Government to raise substantially more than €2 billion through the sale of state assets, even though this had been agreed in the Programme for Government.

RECENTLY, VE Barrett (Letters, August 24) suggested a Margaret Thatcher would be good for Ireland.

THE parents of a toddler who died of sudden infant death syndrome at a Limerick creche have spoken of their devastation at the loss of their “precious son”.

More than 26,000 residents will live within a 15-minute walk of a new Luas line when it starts running today.

PRIVATISING public assets usually occurs when a country is in recession and its people feel anxious and vulnerable.

SURELY not only the usual suspects but the public generally should be enraged by the fact that virtually the whole population, apart from a handful of very wealthy people, are going to have to pay in one way or another the huge cost of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank.

WE are told there are 12,000 hotel guest rooms for which there is no demand. Some suggest reducing the price will solve the problem. I think the reduction would have to be huge to fill 12,000 rooms.

NOW we know that during the property boom not only did governments give numerous tax breaks to developers that encouraged them to build high-rise office buildings, apartment blocks, hotels and housing estates in the middle of nowhere — sometimes on flood plains — they also cut property developers’ personal taxes from 40% to 20%.

SO the unions were led up the garden path by promises of an agreement with the Government and then ditched when they called off the pre-budget day of action.

A CORK priest with extensive property interests has made a €433,475 settlement with the Revenue Commissioners following under-declaration of income tax and capital gains tax.

I KEEP hearing members of the Government telling everyone we are all in the economic crisis together and we must all “share the pain” that is necessary to get out of it. They also keep saying “we are in a difficult situation” as if they had nothing to do with it.

VISITORS returning to the scene of last year’s World Holstein Friesian Conference Show at Millstreet will again see the best of Irish cows.

IN referring to our present economic crisis, SIPTU leader Jack O'Connor says “We do not suggest for a moment that there is some kind of pain-free or risk-free formula for overcoming the difficulties, indeed, we believe there is no viable alternative to an agreement between all parties on a fairer, better way.”

A HOT tub on the decking outside, and a feature glass-block wall in the hallway, yes indeed the noughties style makeover has touched down at Glencairn.

I READ with great interest the recent letters dealing with the Civil Partnership Bill and the opinions of the letter-writers on the measure and its possible consequences. I am concerned that the bill might make it possible to prosecute those whose conscience will not allow them to facilitate or participate in a same-sex civil partnership ceremony.

I AGREE with Kathy Sinnott’s letter (August 31) arguing we should resist the water charges recommended by the recent report of the Commission on Taxation.

I CAN fully understand that the relatives and friends of those who were killed in the Lockerbie terrorist bombing would suffer anguish and a sense of extreme injustice when Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from prison on compassionate grounds. I can also understand why they would want to attack those who released Megrahi.

LIKE John Mallon (Letters, August 3), I too am fed up with the bullying tactics of those who suggest there will be severe consequences for Ireland if we do not vote for the Lisbon Treaty.

YOU report Finance Minister Brian Lenihan (July 16) as saying we must all accept €5bn of cutbacks while telling those set to be hit by them and public sector job losses not to selfishly oppose the measures. Mr Lenihan is wrong. Not everyone will have to accept cutbacks.

DESPITE the opposition of its own planning inspector and well-founded opposition from local residents, medical consultants, councillors, opposition TDs and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin, Bord Pleanála has given the Beacon Medical Group (BMG) permission to build their colocated hospital in the grounds of Cork University Hospital.

ACCORDING to your report (June 2), the Government is considering scrapping the clawback clause which requires someone who has bought a house under the affordable housing scheme to give a percentage of any profit back to the council if the house is sold within 20 years of purchase.

ON television news (May 7), I heard EU Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy argue against taxing the rich.

RECENTLY I saw a report announcing that the Tánaiste was going to lead an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. I was disgusted that Ireland would trade with Saudi Arabia which allows fathers to marry off their child daughters to old men and which cuts off hands for theft and beheads more than 100 people a year.

I WAS watching the British economist and political commentator Will Hutton on a TV programme (April 27) that dealt with the financial collapse and the role of bankers and other “masters of the economic universe” in it.

AS part of the recapitalisation arrangement, AIB and Bank of Ireland are required to start providing credit.

I COULDN’T agree more with Jo Howard’s complaint about dog fouling in Cork City (Letters, January 23.).

APPARENTLY when referring to the Government’s response to the pigmeat contamination crisis, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said: “Everything was done as one would expect.”

UNLIKE every other problem it has had to face in recent times, the Government can’t blame the credit crunch or the international economic downturn for the disaster caused by dioxin-contaminated animal feed.

I AGREE with Gary Honer, national chair, Labour Youth, that the banks should be nationalised (Letters, November 22).

REGARDING charges being laid against Frank Dunlop for allegedly making corrupt payments to politicians, Denis Moloney (Letters, November 28) wonders if the same politicians who accepted these payments will also have their day in court?

WHAT was really infuriating about the Government’s decision not to provide the anti-cervical cancer vaccination for young girls — at a saving of a few million euro — was that it came after it was reported that ministers had bowed to construction industry lobbying regarding the costing of State-funded projects: this lost the taxpayer €150 million.

REGARDED as one of the better estates in Glanmire, according to local auctioneer Don Murphy, Glencairn is a small enclave of one-offs.

IN his letter (September 4), John Mallon says Europe Minister Dick Roche and his colleagues in government appear to see the electorate as some kind of unfortunate byproduct of the democratic process.

RELIGIOUS orders have seen vocations heading in one direction over the past couple of decades — and, unfortunately, it hasn’t been up.

IN his letter supporting the Lisbon Treaty (May 20), Brian Crowley MEP says it “has nothing to do with decisions laid down by the European Court”.

IN his letter (April 28), John J Carroll lauds the right of EU citizens to petition the (unelected) EU Commission under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty.

I AM amazed that plans to construct a much needed extra parking facility for Cork University Hospital (CUH), and facilities to allow large helicopters to land with casualties, were set aside to allow a private healthcare company to build a co-location hospital in the hospital grounds.

I AGREE with Nuala Nolan’s call for a department of state dedicated to housing alone (Letters, March 16).