Sir, - I was stunned by the vitriolic tone of Fintan O'Toole's column (Friday 8th) when he used the suggestion of Dana for the Presidency of Ireland as an excuse to dance a merry jig over the grave of "Orthodox Conservative Catholicism".
The strengths/weaknesses of Dana as a candidate for the Park are a matter worthy of debate. However, Mr O'Toole, in the best traditions of dogmatic liberalism, proceeded to lambaste a religious faith which is still important to a sizeable proportion of Irish people. His sweeping dismissal of the 1979 Papal visit as "happy-clappy fundamentalism" is grossly insulting to hundreds of thousands of the Irish mainstream who were caught up in the euphoria of that time.
Yes, it was a different Ireland which we may now observe with a certain bemusement - a little like coming across old photographs of ourselves which cause us to blush - but the maturity of a person and a people is dependent on an ability to accept the past as part of who you are. If the discussion about possible presidential candidates is also a debate about the kind of Ireland we envisage, surely questions must be asked of assumptions that Ireland is now a healthier, more confident and inclusive nation than in the days of Mr O'Toole's caricature.
John Fowles in The Magus offers timely counsel: "It is not only species of animal that die out, but whole species of feeling. And if you are wise you will never pity the past for what it did not know, but pity yourself for what it did." - Yours, etc.,
Stephen McLaughlin,
Fanad Drive, Derry.