Madam, - In Wednesday night's confidence motion in the Dáil, 81 TDs supported Bertie Ahern, while 76 voted in favour of the motion.
The 6 Green Party members of this coalition Government opted to save the day for the Taoiseach.
They have now well and truly fully signed up to Mr John Gormley's infamous "Bertieland" and in doing so they have lost any credibility they may have had as a party of principle, a stance on which they campaigned during the general election.
Michael McDowell must be having a ball watching this unfold. - Yours, etc,
MARY O'CARROLL, Gledswood Avenue, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Bertie Ahern tells the Dáil that he finds the obsession about the minutiae of his life "distasteful".
The only person obsessed with his personal life is himself and those Fianna Fáil acolytes primed to drag it up when asked awkward questions by journalists. The tribunal has shown no interest in it, and neither, so far as I can see, has anyone else.
The "Smokescreen Taoiseach"? - Yours, etc,
FRED JOHNSTON, Circular Road, Galway.
Madam, - The one clear admitted fact concerning the sorry sordid saga of the Taoiseach's financial dealings in the mid 1990s is that he was going through a separation at the time. This is relied upon as the reason for his not having a bank account in his own name. The rationale of this situation has not been questioned.
The Taoiseach uses his unfortunate domestic problems as a shield to prevent him having to respond to awkward inquiries. However, the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from this state of affairs is that he did not want his spouse (or her advisers) to know the extent of his assets.
Is this the behaviour of a man fit to lead his country? - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN JOHNSON, John Street, Sligo.
Madam, - The real issue surrounding Mr Ahern is not the veracity or otherwise of his evidence to the Mahon tribunal. It is the fact that, as a public representative, a minister for finance to boot, he accepted monies for his own private use from wealthy individuals. This was a clear breach of what most of us would understand as ethical behaviour for a person in such a position.
Over the years we have come not to expect too much from post-1960s Fianna Fáil. It is quite extraordinary, however, that the Green Party and the PDs are incapable of grasping this rather simple fact. It is now quite clear that the restoration of decency and ethical standards in public life can now only be entrusted to Fine Gael and the Labour Party.
I confess I have never voted for the former, but I am full of admiration for Enda Kenny's stance on this most important of issues. He renders our nation a great service in making this a core issue. - Yours, etc,
ALAN McPARTLAND, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Madam, - Our modern democracy is being devalued by the current media treatment of the Taoiseach. We are all demeaned by the booing of the Taoiseach outside Dublin Castle. Each day, the public is urged by commentators to believe that Mr Ahern is corrupt or is possibly lying to the Tribunal.
What is truly corrupt in all of this is the denial of elementary natural justice to Bertie Ahern. I want to vote no confidence in the Opposition leaders who have joined this wretched and unjust consensus.
We are now living in a thoroughly illiberal democracy. The ecclesiastical domination of former times has been replaced by the secular despotism of commentators and journalists. Many of these have assumed the power to undermine and destroy reputations.
In the future, Bertie Ahern will be ranked alongside Seán Lemass for his honesty and his achievements. Meanwhile, he has the natural right of every citizen to his good name - and to the high esteem in which he is held by most fair-minded people. - Yours, etc,
Fr BREIFNE WALKER, Whitehall Road, Dublin 12.
Madam, - Joan Hickey (September 27th) makes the bizarre suggestion that critics of the Taoiseach are somehow "those who are more prosperous".
I love that old FF mantra that it is the party of the Plain People of Ireland who have their dinner in the middle of the day, and that those of us who want clean government are all a bit fancy.
Fact: There's nothing wrong with being prosperous. More often then not, it means you work very hard.
Fact: The Taoiseach is prosperous. He is paid slightly less than Angela Merkel, who runs a country of nearly 90 million people, as opposed to our more modest 4.2 million.
Fact: Instead of collecting taxes from his cronies, Charlie Haughey slashed health spending in the 1980s, something we're still paying for. It wasn't the prosperous who suffered from this, it was the poor.
Fianna Fáil is the party of the prosperous and those stupid enough to be fooled into believing it isn't. - Yours, etc,
JASON O'MAHONY, Coppinger Glade, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Wednesday's edition reported that Mr Paul Sreenan SC, Mr Owen O'Callaghan's counsel, accused Mr Tom Gilmartin of telling lies and making up stories in his dealings with the tribunal and that Mr Sreenan told Mr Gilmartin that persons who were telling the truth did not vary the details of their story.
I cannot quibble with Mr Sreenan's logic, but I do wonder why nobody has made this very point to Mr Ahern in such an assertive manner. - Yours, etc,
GEARÓID Ó DUBHÁIN, Mount Oval Village, Rochestown Road, Cork.
Madam, - I accept the argument that final judgment on Mr Ahern's suitability for the office of Taoiseach ought to await the publication of the Mahon tribunal report on this module of its inquiries. However, I do not accept that nothing ought to happen now, as in my view, the evidence heard to date indicates a prima facie case of conduct inappropriate to his office.
A director or senior manager of a company in a similar position is expected to stand aside from his office while the matter is determined. A refusal to do so usually results in suspension.
I suggest, therefore, that Mr Ahern should stand aside pending the publication of the tribunal report on this module. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BURKE, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I reckon that Mr Ahern really doesn't give a damn at this stage because he reckons that nobody really gives a damn at this stage. - Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH, Moorpark, Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow.