Madam, - I was surprised and disappointed to see the Ryanair advertisement you published on page 3 of your Christmas Eve edition. As a practising Christian I find this advertisement crass, vulgar and insulting. To me it is also blasphemous, but to the commercial interests of The Irish Timesand Ryanair this is obviously immaterial.
There is little to admire in much of Ryanair's advertising but it is particularly offensive that this particular advertisement is not advertising Ryanair's airline services. It is advertising greed by using the image of the Nativity, the Christian image most synonymous with simplicity, innocence and peace.
I buy your newspaper because I admire its high journalistic standards of fairness and integrity. The least I expect is an apology for your lapse in standards on Christmas Eve. It may be the post-Christian era in Ireland but there are still hundreds of thousands of us out there whom you have offended by publishing this advertisement. - Yours, etc,
FRANK BRENNAN, Sandyford Road, Dublin 16.