A chara, – When private parties are engaged in civil litigation it is sound, accurate and appropriate to advise the party defending the proceedings to oblige the plaintiff to prove their case and to seek to undermine that case within the law even where the defendant is advised that it is liable for the plaintiff’s loss. That is the nature of our adversarial system.
The State is not a private party but is the guardian of the common good (Bunreacht na hÉireann Articles 42.3.2 and 42A) and as such must hold itself to a higher standard. For the State to ignore its liability for a systemic denial of rights to vulnerable people, for it to ignore its obligation to follow the law, strikes at its very legitimacy and its authority to oblige the rest of us to be law-abiding. – Is mise,
DÁITHÍ Mac CÁRTHAIGH,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – I have read the Attorney General’s 30-page report.
Much of it concerns itself with the obligation of those governing the country to responsibly manage finances collected by way of taxes paid by the citizens of the country. More concerns itself with an examination of the law related to the issues in question, nursing home fees and disability payments.
The report finds that, in furtherance of this responsibility and the fact that law on certain issues is not crystal clear as to entitlement of certain claimants, it is a perfectly acceptable legal strategy to deny redress in disputed circumstances to those who do not have the capacity to effectively challenge such strategy, politically or legally, while at the same time making ex-gratia payments to groups who have such capacity.
Why is it that I am not surprised at the findings of the report or that the legal view of the Government-appointed adviser is that denial of rights that are accepted to exist to marginalised groups is a perfectly acceptable legal and governmental strategy, while the appeasement of those in society that have the capacity to enforce rights, perceived or existing, is an expression of good governance? – Yours, etc,
DAVID FITZGERALD,
Kiuruvesi,
Finland.