Madam, - Eileen Desmond, TD (Obituaries, January 8th) will be best remembered as a champion of Cork's poor, a campaigner for the needy and a feminist who sought out and nurtured emerging female voices in the Irish Labour Party during the 1970s and 1980s.
I owe her my gratitude for the support and encouragement she gave me during the early and most difficult days of my political career. Any health problems she suffered were never mentioned. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr NIAMH BHREATHNACH, Blackrock, Co Dublin.