A chara, - Nora Bennis manages to miss the point of my letter (April 2nd). She attempts to label me and others as "arch-liberals". What is an "arch-liberal"? What in my letter gives her the right to call me or anyone else an "archliberal"? Why did she need to translate my name from the Irish form as contained on my passport to further her point? She is doing exactly what she accuses me and others of doing to discredit our right to have a view.
In my letter I simply queried the bizarre theory of her quoted expert from America who states that RSE-type programmes make people "cruel, dangerous and psychopathic". I never at any time objected to anti-RSE people being given a platform to express their views at any forum. In fact I would welcome such debate. I never suggested that the proposed RSE programme is the answer to all our ills. Nor did I say I was pro-RSE. Why has Mrs Bennis not answered other correspondents who challenged the veracity of the contents of her own letter?
I strenuously object to the abusive and defamatory language used by anti-RSE people to parents, teachers and others who genuinely want to do their best for their children. Does Mrs Bennis condone the abuse which was used at the Trim meeting recently? If Mrs Bennis has a message to give, perhaps she should do so in a factual, non-aggressive manner which would earn her and her anti-RSE people respect, a respect which was denied to the parents of Trim and the surrounding areas recently. Perhaps Mrs Bennis would address the message of my letter and not attempt to "kill the messenger" herself. - Is mise,
Sean O Diomasaigh
Kiltale, Dunsany, Co Meath.