Sir, - Thank you, Fintan O'Toole, for your heartbreakingly decent article about Sinead O'Connor's appearance on The Late Late Show (Opinion, May 7th). And thank you, The Irish Times, for just being there to give a platform to someone with Fintan's sense and sensitivity to speak out against human distress being paraded before the nation as entertainment. I have been deeply upset these last weeks in the aftermath of the publicity surrounding Sinead O'Connor's so-called ordination - not at the so-called ordination itself but at the crassness and ignorance of those within television and radio and the print media who should know better than to exploit the pain of an already very wounded creature.
The sight of one of Ireland's top psychologists on Questions and Answers failing to recognising mania and distress and laughing off the whole thing as a publicity stunt was bad enough. But when Ireland's top broadcaster, who usually champions the weak and vulnerable, used her as entertainment fodder, I despaired for the direction in which this country is headed.
However, my faith in the basic decency of the plain people of Ireland was somewhat restored during the week as many of my students, young and not so young, Irish and non-Irish, all acknowledged the genuine distress and spirituality of Sinead; like myself, they are all rooting for her to find peace. In the meantime I would like to knock the heads of the so-called bishops - Cox and Buckley - together. Maybe a good hard crack on the skull would make them realise the damage they are doing. - Yours, etc., Dr Noreen O'Carroll,
Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Milltown Park, Dublin 6.