Madam, - Jim Duffy's article "Naivete blighted Ó Dálaigh's tenure" (Opinion & Analysis, October 24th) offers a biased view of the events which led to the resignation of former President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh.
The thrust of the piece isthat Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh was the wrong choice for the joband that he was a troubled man, possibly suffering from deep personal problems and on the verge of a breakdown. Jim Duffy does not provide anymedical opinion to justify this assertion.
Defence Minister Paddy Donegan, on the other hand, is sympathetically described as being in shock from a car accident at the time of his attack on the President. His rant is presented as an emotional outburst in support ofgardaí who had suffered the death of a comrade immediately before the signing into law of the Emergency Powers Bill.
This can hardly be described as a fair and balanced analysis of the events that led to Mr Ó Dálaigh's resignation from the office of President.
Mr Duffy does not adequately explain the background to these events. Neither does he explain why President Ó Dálaigh may have had deep concerns as to the effects of the Emergency Powers legislation.
As a grand-nephew of Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, I accept that I may have a slightly biased view of these events. However, Mr Duffy's article is sufficiently coloured to warrant questioning, particularly the implication that Paddy Donegan somehow may have saved the State from the embarrassing prospect ofconstitutional crises arising from President Ó Dálaigh supposedly being in danger of becoming temporarily incapacitated due to a nervous breakdown.
At the time of these events, when Paddy Donegan offered his resignation to the Taoiseach it should have been accepted. In the end, it was the President through his resignation who acted to preserve the integrity of his office. No massaging of history can change the unalterable fact that it was Paddy Donegan who brought about the 1976 crisis and that it was Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh who resolved it in the only way open to him. - Is mise,
PROINSIAS MAC
FHEARGHUSA,
An Uaimh,
An Mhí.