Madam, - Martin Mansergh, discussing the Hutton Report (Opinion, February 7th), writes: "Few people here would have wished Tony Blair to come to political harm over Iraq, given his commitment to the peace process and the close partnership forged with Bertie Ahern."
This is a very telling sentence.
What does Dr Mansergh mean when he speaks about "here" in this context? Is he talking about the Republic of Ireland? About the Seanad? Or about the inner circle around the Fianna Fáil leadership? The sentence implies that an action is best judged on the basis of who sanctions it, rather than on the merits of the action itself.
It does no justice to the intelligence of the Irish population who are able to separate one issue from another and to judge right from wrong.
The war was not justified comprehensively before it happened, and it has since been revealed that the arguments put forward by the UK and US administrations (and which were bought into by the Irish Government) were tenuous.
In my opinion, this sentence reveals the mind-set of those at the centre of power in Ireland and how decisions are weighed up that affect the lives of people far from "here", and who live daily with the consequences of that decision. - Yours, etc.,
PAT McGEE, Milltown Drive, Churchtown, Dublin 14.