Madam, - Over the past two weeks we have been inundated with details of the life of the former taoiseach Charles Haughey, in the course of which we have been told in great detail what he did and what he failed to do.
The only omission from that intensive discourse was the subject of "what he would have done".
I am convinced that had Mr Haughey been in any position of influence when the decision was made to route the M3 motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley he would have vigorously and successfully opposed it. The purchase of the Hill of Tara by the State, the provision of an interpretative centre on the hill, and the setting up of the Discovery Programme, by which astonishing discoveries were made at Tara, were a result of his efforts.
Should our present Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, wish to erect a monument to Mr Haughey, I suggest that he could do nothing better to honour him than to preserve the Hill of Tara in its integral landscape and archaeological setting by having the relatively short section of the planned motorway diverted from the Tara-Skryne valley. - Yours, etc,
TOMMY HAMILL, Ballinter, Co Meath.
Madam, - The oft-repeated valedictory speech by the ever-modest Charles Haughey, with the quotation "I have done the State some service", prompts the remark made by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The louder he talked of his honour the faster we counted our spoons". - Yours, etc,
JIM WALSH, Raheny, Dublin 5.