Madam, - Recent events including the collapse of child protection legislation, the release of a child sex offender and the death of Charles Haughey have helped to obscure a very important issue covered at length recently in The Irish Times: the personal and professional integrity of Frank Fahey, Minister of State at the Department of Justice,
Mr Fahey has in the past failed to abide by the law requiring TDs to declare their interests in full in the Dáil Register. Despite this failure, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern saw fit to appoint Mr Fahey as a deputy minister in one of the most sensitive Government Departments. This is the same Taoiseach who gave us Raphael Burke as Minister for Justice and who supported Burke long after it became obvious to all that he was corrupt and simply had to go.
Since his appointment as Minister of State at Justice further questions regarding Mr Fahey's personal and professional integrity have been raised, not least by recent news of his business interests in Russia and the conflicting reports that have emerged around that issue. Mr Fahey's own statements on this subject seem to me to be at best self-serving and evasive.
There is now ample reason to believe that the whole truth of Mr Fahey's involvement in this Russian business has not yet been revealed. Reports to date raise the most serious questions for Mr Fahey. His responses fail utterly to satisfy the need for full clarity and full disclosure on his part. Resignation from his current position seems the least that is required of him but I don't hold my breath.
Given that we cannot, evidently, expect Mr Fahey or the Taoiseach or the Fianna Fáil party to pay serious attention to issues involving ethics in office, it is to be hoped that journalists will clearly see their duty to explore in full these and any related issues regarding Mr Fahey. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL MEADE, Shantalla Road, Galway.