Madam, - Now that the school atlas has been changed to indicate that Ireland is no longer part of the British Isles, should we also change the history syllabus to show that ethics were invented only in 1995? - Yours, etc,
CATHAL FEENEY, Aylesbury, Dublin 24.
Madam, - Why would we expect the Taoiseach to successfully distinguish right from wrong? Isn't he the man who can't distinguish right from left? - Yours, etc,
STEPHEN BARRETT, Abbeyleix, Co Laois.
Madam, - Mary Raftery (Opinion, October 5th) is "startled" that "the Taoiseach has neither contradicted nor qualified his statement last week that he appointed certain individuals to positions on State boards because they were his 'friends'."
Anyone following the Dáil debate on Wednesday, September 27th, however, would have heard Joe Higgins ask him about that very statement, and would have heard the Taoiseach answer: "Every person appointed to a State board whether by myself or my colleagues is someone we believe is qualified for such an appointment.
"They are appointments based on merit taking into account the particular combination of skills, qualifications, background and life experience that each person has."
Whatever one's view of the Taoiseach, this is certainly a clear qualification, if not a direct contradiction, of his earlier statement. - Yours, etc,
THOMAS KINSELLA, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - With Teflon-coated utensils one must use only non-metallic objects. Recent events would suggest that in Michael McDowell, Bertie has found a flexible friend - indeed, a plastic Tánaiste. - Yours, etc,
MELWYN GODINHO, Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny.
Madam, - You have allowed your obvious disdain for Fianna Fáil to cloud your professional judgments and your responsibility to maintain the high standards of The Irish Times. Your self-serving definitions of ethics, used to damage the Taoiseach, is in stark contrast to your own highly unethical behaviour through the publication of confidential tribunal documents and your deliberate destruction of evidence of the unlawful leaking of such documents. You defend your actions in the name of the public interest. The judge of such "public interest" is not you, madam, but the tribunal, which was established to adjudicate on the evidence before it and to publish if need be, in the best interests of this State.
As it stands, it seems to me that the only unlawful act committed in this whole affair, thus far, has been committed by you. I think you should resign. - Yours, etc,
Dr VINCENT KENNY, Glenvara Park, Dublin 16.
Madam, - Does the identification of Michael Wall as the man who sold the Taoiseach his house give an entirely different meaning to Bertie's claim that the sums of money quoted in the original Irish Times report were "off the wall"? - Yours, etc,
H BYRNE, Lower Drumcondra Road, Dublin 9.