Madam, - The Moriarty report gives us one more chance to engage in the national sport of Haughey-bashing. But it will be of little value unless we ask tougher questions than the ones Moriarty answers.
Why did we confer on Mr Haughey the office of Taoiseach on three separate occasions knowing what we already knew about him? Did he really shape Irish society or merely reflect it? What have we learned about ourselves from the minutely scrutinised Haughey years? And how have we changed since then?
Charles Haughey saw that we valued political competence above personal character. We still do. Our current political leaders want us to believe that codes of ethical practice have changed the political culture and that what happened in the 1980s could not happen today. In other words, that they wouldn't get away with it today. But the question is: "Would they if they could?"
Is it political climate or personal character that prevents politicians from acting corruptly? Until we elect politicians who don't want to get away with anything then nothing has really changed.
What if, in the upcoming election, the electorate told candidates that integrity mattered more than expediency? What if, instead of raising our pet moan, we asked canvassers what issues would make them ignore the party whip?
What if we put a quality such as honesty above party allegiance when choosing where to place our vote?
If we're not willing to put character and integrity at the top of our political wish-list, let's not complain when our politicians don't either. - Yours, etc,
SEÁN MULLAN, Castlefield Park, Dublin 15.
Madam, - Dermot Desmond's recent angry response to matters arising from the Moriarty tribunal report sits oddly with the fact that the vast sums of money which maintained Haughey in his baronial style, and enabled him to preside over a breathtakingly shameful culture of corruption and clientelism, came from a spectrum of multi-millionaire property developers and businessmen who were always ready to slake Haughey's insatiable thirst for cash.
In other lands, such "loans", "political donations", "gifts", etc, would be seen as nothing short of bribery, and would be classed as a corrupting mechanism and brought before the courts, to be dealt with as such, meriting penalties of a severity to match the damage done to the democratic process, public life and probity.
Why is this not done here? - Yours, etc,
DAVID GRANT, Waterford.
A chara, - Miriam Lord ( The Irish Times, December 20th) wonders if Charlie Haughey should be described as "one of us". In view of the tens of thousands of offshore accounts, the numerous examples of tax evasion and tax avoidance, and the continuing legal, quasi-legal and illegal methods used by both the rich and the not-so-rich of this country to not pay tax, much of it facilitated by financial institutions, lawyers and accountants; that is exactly what he was. - Is mise,
LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH, Ellensborough Drive, Dublin 24.
Madam, - Brian Lucey (December 21st) claims that, "far from devaluing democracy, as the Moriarty report states, Mr Haughey and his ilk showed the value of it". But what the Moriarty report exposed, in very precise terms, was the price of corruption, not the value.
Value and price are not necessarily the same. Moriarty has given us a tariff of charges for acts of corruption. On that basis, he was quite correct in saying that Haughey had devalued our democracy.
While I appreciate that Mr Lucey was (perhaps) being facetious, it is nonetheless disturbing that a person writing from the School of Business in TCD should seemingly choose not to recognise the distinction between price and value when talking about corruption. - Yours, etc,
TONY DIGNAN, Fruithill Park, Belfast 11.
Madam, - "Ahern says he was treated unfairly" (front-page headline in Friday's edition). Well, pity about him. So were a huge number of Irish people over the past 20 years. - Yours, etc,
MARY McKEOGH, Greenfields Court, Kilkenny.
Madam, - I note that Bertie Ahern is still smarting from the revelations about his receipt of donations or "loans", complains about people being "out to get" him. I think he is merely trying to shoot the messenger - and this in a week when he was rebuked by the Moriarty tribunal and when his former mentor, Mr Haughey, was revealed for what he was.
Could I recommend a little bit of modesty to Bertie at this time of year? Or does he and his party feel that no matter what they do they will get away with it? - Yours, etc,
BRIAN McCAFFREY, Clifton Crescent, Galway.