A Chara, - The Mahon tribunal is a waste of money and should be scrapped immediately. It has already cost the taxpayer millions of euro. Yet the benefit accrued to our democracy is close to nil. The lawyers have laughed their way in and out of Dublin Castle daily now for almost 10 years. But last week the Taoiseach confirmed that, despite all the filth dredged up by the various tribunals, the notion of political transparency means as much to him now as it did when he accepted bundles of cash from businessmen in the 1990s.
Clearly the general public is "tribunalled out". Too many tribunals, too many names, too many envelopes, and too much amnesia. The initial shock to the political elite, in the wake of the beef tribunal and then McCracken, has simply worn off. First the Freedom of Information Act was enacted; then, when humility drained away, it was gutted. Party funding went high on the agenda, then slipped away. The public no longer believes political integrity is possible, so it is pointless talking about it. This is why the Opposition parties looked away during the election campaign when a rattle emanated from the Taoiseach's wardrobe that sounded distinctly like a falling skeleton. It sounded dodgy all right, but no one would go there.
Public interest in political integrity has died, making way for the return of the brass neck. This explains the Taoiseach's tone when asked about taking cash from a businessman when he was Minister for Finance. It ranged from the brazen - "If ever I thought I was going to be sitting here, there is a whole lot of other things I wouldn't have done" - to the facetious - "I wish he had just given me a season ticket for Manchester United". Basically, probity in public office remains what it has always been in Ireland: a joke.
If the tribunals had been successful in altering our political culture, Bertie Ahern, even if he did no favours for the money he took, would have been compelled to state his conviction that integrity is essential for holders of high office. In a system purged of the rot that is corruption, he would have felt the need to affirm his belief that transparency is the life-blood of effective democracy. He and his peers would have assured us that tough measures were needed to bolster these views. And such measures would have been delivered.
But none of this has happened. So the tribunals, for all their time and cost, have not improved the health of our democracy. Arguably, their length, cost, and poor results have merely added to the deep well of cynicism about public life. - Is mise,
CIARÁN MAC AONGHUSA,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Madam, - I spent two days at the Mahon Tribunal last week listening to the evidence of the Taoiseach.
The only thing that became clearer to me from my attendance was that I now know from which parent the Taoiseach's daughter, best selling author Cecelia Ahern, inherited her undoubted creativity.
If only the Taoiseach could have used his storytelling talents in a more positive way, as she has done! - Yours, etc,
ENID O'DOWD,
Moyne Road,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Madam, - Is the Mary Stewart who tells us to leave the question of the morality of the Taoiseach's finances alone the same Mary Stewart who regularly advises readers of these pages on sexual morality? Aaah. À la carte morality, a Fianna Fáil leader's mysterious money, and an incoming recession. It's like living in the 1980s again. - Yours, etc,
JASON O'MAHONY,
Coppinger Glade,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.