Madam, - Taxation, justice, schools, planning - these are all important matters on which the public must decide who is to govern.
But the first duty of a democratic public is to elect an honest government. Should Mr Ahern emerge from this controversy with the trust of the people intact, so much the better. Should he not, then all the better for the public interest to know the truth of it.
Democracy is well served by holding our leaders to account. A politician's best defence is to be forthright. - Yours, etc,
STEPHEN BARRETT, De Vesci Hill, Abbeyleix, Co Laois.
Madam, - Is there a word in the English language for an explanation which leaves the situation more confused than before? If not, may I suggest a "Bertie" - called after that constantly confused literary character, Bertie Wooster, of course. Who did you think I meant? - Yours, etc,
PATRICIA DALY, Home Farm Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
Madam, - The media's continued obsession with the Taoiseach's personal finances is doing the country a great disservice by distracting from the greater debate about who will manage the economy for the next five years.
No doubt it will be interesting to find out just how much Bertie paid for his house in Drumcondra, but surely it is more pertinent to examine why Enda Kenny has consistently deflected all questions over the last few weeks on budgetary matters to Richard Bruton, or why his putative finance minister Pat Rabbitte still hasn't figured out when he will implement his stamp duty proposals, or how much they will cost?
Competence to govern comes under a range of headings - maybe our newspapers ought to re-evaluate what they perceive as matters of public concern and add a few more suggestions to the list. - Yours, etc,
CATHERINE McNALLY, Alexanderaide, Navan, Co Meath.
Madam, - John O'Donoghue (May 9th) believes the media have a "moral or journalistic obligation" to focus on the leaking of documents from the Mahon Tribunal rather than on "Bertie Ahern's rental and subsequent purchase of his home in the mid-1990s".
After decades of corruption in Irish politics, I would dearly like to believe that our political leaders now prize morality and ethics over blind and often brazen party loyalties, but apparently we're not quite there yet. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KELLY, Victoria Street, Dublin 8.
Madam, - Minister John O'Donoghue's letter to these pages begins by noting that "democratic societies deserve campaigns based on the issues that effect the people". The subsequent nine paragraphs outline, at length, his dissatisfaction with The Irish Times for publishing leaked tribunal documentation and failing to investigate the "partisan motives" behind the leaks.
Why can't we have what we apparently deserve? - Yours, etc,
Dr MARK PERRY, Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Madam, - We are a forgiving people. We all knew that Charlie Haughey, Ray Burke and Liam Lawlor, to name but a few, were grossly corrupt, yet as long as they delivered more or less what we wanted, we chose to turn a blind eye. Compared with the excesses of these and others the (still unproven) financial irregularities of the present Taoiseach are trivial in the extreme. Yet Michael McDowell, the Tánaiste and leader of the PDs, has chosen to fixate on this matter at a critical point in the present election campaign.
Mr McDowell himself once declared that the PDs must be "radical or irrelevant". Before embarking on his recent political gymnastics he had made sure that they would be unacceptable as coalition partners to any of the parties offering the possibility of an alternative government. By his recent capers he also must have made his party unacceptable as partners in any future Fianna Fáil-led Government. He has thus, at a stroke, rendered the PDs politically irrelevant.
I am a former Fianna Fáil activist alienated by the Haughey leadership, who not merely followed Des O'Malley into exile after his expulsion from that party for demonstrating an unacceptable degree of personal and political integrity but who also begged him to form a separate party long before the inception of the PDs. I have supported that party ever since it became a reality. However, I would warn Mr McDowell that if his party survives the coming election as a political entity but is instrumental in inflicting a coalition of opposites on this country which can only terminate our ephemeral prosperity, it need never again expect even a tenth preference from me. I suspect that I am not alone among PD supporters in feeling this way. - Yours etc,
ADRIAN J. ENGLISH, Kilcolman Court, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Once again politicians insult the intelligence of the electorate by defacing the country with posters as well as stuffing our letterboxes with their campaign literature for weeks on end, making a farce of their rhetoric on the environment. One has to question the intellect of candidates who permit this.
In France and most of Europe, posters are permitted only on designated hoardings. However, as usual, we are sometimes way ahead of everyone in vulgar excess. - Yours, etc,
GEORGE WALSH, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Madam, - Fintan O'Toole refers (Opinion, May 8th) to my ongoing efforts to secure an extension to Ballapousta National School, Co Louth (Opinion & Analysis, May 7th). He quotes from my recent statement of support for the project, and also to a parliamentary question I put down in 1992 seeking a extension to the same school from the then Minister for Education, Seamus Brennan.
What Mr O'Toole does not point out was that, as a result of my lobbying efforts in the early 1990s an extension was built to the school, and opened my me, in 1995.
My latest efforts are aimed at securing a second, additional extension - necessary because border counties like mine are experiencing their first population increases since the Famine.
Sorry to spoil the narrative. - Yours, etc,
DERMOT AHERN TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dublin 2.
Madam, - I am writing to express my disgust at the persistence of elements in the media which seem intent on turning the general election campaign into a mini-tribunal.
The Taoiseach deserves credit for not bowing to demands for trial by media. He has made it clear that he will comprehensively refute any allegations made against him at the Mahon Tribunal. The tribunal, which was established by the Oireachtas, is the appropriate place to deal with such issues. Its chairman made a considered decision not to commence public inquiries as all of the evidence could not be dealt with fully before polling day. The Taoiseach is absolutely correct to respect the chairman's decision.
The Taoiseach has been the subject of many allegations which have been disproved in the past. Irish electors are the most sophisticated in the world. I have no doubt they will see through the artificially generated media hysteria.
In the meantime, can we please have a campaign in the days remaining on the real issues and the future direction of this country? - Yours, etc,
AISLING ZARRAGA, Earlsfield, London SW18.
Madam, - As Bertie endeavours to satisfy Michael McDowell and the PDs, maybe he should remember words recorded by St Luke the Evangelist, the patron of his constituency office: "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke 12:2,3.) - Yours, etc,
JOE O'SULLIVAN, Tipper Road, Naas, Co Kildare.