YEARS ago, a friend and I were walking down a busy street when a Jaguar XJ12 came towards us.

THE recent announcement by the Director of Public Prosecutions, James Hamilton, that one in four cigarettes in Ireland is the result of illegal smuggling is hardly surprising.

WHEN Anglo Irish Bank needed to prop up its share price, it called in 10 friends and asked them if they would borrow e30m each to buy the bank’s shares.

IT was mildly amusing to hear a Dell spokesman maintain that the 1,900 job losses were only decided on last weekend. I guess he would say that, wouldn’t he?

THE ban on Veritas radio advertising radio is a complete nonsense.

IT is sickening to watch the political bluffing being carried out by the Government over the Lisbon Treaty rejection.

WITH the banks in difficulty, it is predicted that there will be many repossessions in the coming months.

BARRY WALSH (Letters, June 12) appears to object when I pointed out that the original remit of the Referendum Commission was to “outline arguments for and against” whatever referendum was being held, but that this was changed when we gave our politicians a close call at the Nice Treaty.

WE are warned by Seán Ó Neachtain MEP (Letters, May 26) that “the interests of Irish agriculture, rural communities and the Irish food sector in general will be very badly served indeed if there is a no vote against the Lisbon Treaty”.

JUDGE Iarfhlaith O’Neill, chairman of the Referendum Commission, has helpfully pointed us to the commission’s website (www.lisbontreaty2008.ie) to get the facts on the treaty (Letters, May 10).

OUR new Taoiseach Brian Cowen warned the social partners on wage restraint before he took up office.

BECAUSE it is such an important event, the referendum on the Lisbon treaty requires a fair bit of scrutiny. So, Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, a charming holiday destination in southern Europe.

WOULD you sign a contract without reading it especially if you didn’t trust the salesman?

THE chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Gary McGann, has written to the Cork Airport Authority (CAA) and told them they must accept a €100 million debt.

SO Brian Cowen gave in to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and their fanatical anti-smokers by adding 30 cent to the price of cigarettes.

I NOTE Prof Luke Clancy of Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) is back trying to persuade Finance Minister Brian Cowen to add €2 to the price of a packet of cigarettes in the forthcoming budget.

PROFESSOR Luke Clancy of anti-smoking group ASH says: “While the Government was making some efforts to curb tobacco use, they’re not doing enough” (Irish Examiner Letters, March 3).

WHILE I am no supporter of Fine Gael, I have to take issue with John O’ Donoghue’s inane drivel (Irish Examiner letters, November 23).

IN reality, there will always be road deaths and the issue currently is the high number of them.

I WISH to take issue with your editorial headlined ‘Tobacco revenue price hike will save more lives’ (Irish Examiner, January 6).

I SUGGEST that the current high-cost management team at Irish Ferries be replaced.

CORK city manager Joe Gavin is to be applauded for his ideas for park-and-ride facilities for our rapidly growing city.

HAVING worked in the IT industry, I was amazed at both the cost overruns and the fact that the ‘health service computer system’ may need to be scrapped.

ISN’T is ironic that all Fianna Fáil could come up with from their holiday in Cavan was ‘social engagement.’ They want us all to get out there, get involved and talk to each other.

MANY things may contribute to a road accident, such as fatigue (it’s not against the law to drive when you are tired), bad visibility (it’s not against the law to drive in bad weather) ...

THE other day in downtown Mayfield, on the upside of Cork city, I spotted two garda outriders shooing traffic aside to permit a black Mercedes through at speed.

YOUR columnist Noel Whelan (Irish Examiner, June 23), in reviewing a proposed smoking ban in Britain, trots out all the usual anti-nicotine nonsense.

EWAN DUFFY (Irish Examiner letters, April 27) has spotted yet another disgusting smoker in what he describes as an “enclosed” rail station.

IT was interesting to read what can only be disinformation from the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) that 80% of smokers support the ban.

AFTER a year of clean air in our workplaces, we could have reasonably expected the Office of Tobacco Control to report a fall-off in hospital admissions and huge drops in cancer and coronary heart failure rates.

YOUR correspondent Tim O’Sullivan (Irish Examiner letters, December 2) reminds us of the extreme bias of Dr Fenton Howell and his fellow-travellers at ASH.

EWAN DUFFY (Irish Examiner letters, November 10), who was horrified to see actual smokers having a cigarette in Dublin recently, is merely showing the intolerance of his own phobia.

THE recent report from the office of Health and Safety on injury and illness in the workplace will make interesting reading for smokers.

MICHEÁL MARTIN has received wide acclaim for his crusade against more than one million smokers. But the smoking ban must be only the opening salvo in the war on all carcinogens.

WHILE I welcome the recent reported fall in cigarette consumption in Ireland, I still maintain that smokers only harm themselves.

I READ with interest the increasing number of letters to Irish newspapers from Americans, usually representing some anti-smoking forum and applauding our absolute ban in Ireland.

ROSSA Ó SNODAIGH (Irish Examiner letters, July 19) asserts that smokers are addicts and therefore should have ‘no choice’ regarding the scientifically unsound smoking ban.

THE gardaí exist to enforce the country’s laws and protect its citizens. Traditionally an unarmed force, they were friends in times of difficulty.

IN RELATION to the proposed smoking ban I would like to point out a few hard facts to the Minister for Health.

SURELY the sensible solution to the smoking problem is to allow publicans choose what rule they want to introduce in their own business.