Sir, - I notice your correspondent Robert O'Byrne recently made use of the Irishman's Diary column to reply to a letter concerning the refurbishment of Farmleigh House. This is a practice that seems to be spreading among Irish Times columnists. I myself was a victim of it last year when Kevin Myers used the same column to reply to a letter of mine.
I cannot see this as a fair practice or, to the use the old clichΘ, "a level playing-field". Surely the correct place to reply to a letter is on the Letters page and not using the superior firepower and authority of a column. Perhaps those concerned would cease this practice. - Yours, etc.,
Senator David Norris, Seanad ╔ireann, Dublin 2.