Madam, - In the second programme of the RTÉ television series Fitzgerald at 80, Vincent Browne wasted a great opportunity to give the viewer further insight into Dr FitzGerald's view of his own political career.
Mr Browne was argumentative, negative, confrontational and at times condescending to one of the great figures of modern Irish politics. While healthy criticism should always be levelled in a programme of this nature, Vincent Browne seemed determined to conduct this interview in a manner which left Garret FitzGerald doing little but rebutting his ill-founded and badly researched criticisms.
For Mr Browne to criticise Dr FitzGerald for the expenditure on the renovation of Kilmainham Hospital, despite the project having being sanctioned by the previous administration, to criticise Garret's failure to protest to the British government on the sinking of the Belgrano regardless of the damage this may have done to the Northern peace process, to question Garret's critical comments on Charles Haughey and his views on the damage that political corruption has done to Irish society were beyond ridiculous.
This programme should have given the viewer a chance to gain further insight into some of the former Taoiseach's major political decisions. This would have been achieved by encouraging Garret to speak about areas of real importance during his political career, not by 45 minutes of Vincent Browne trying to score points.
My only regret about Garret FitzGerald's time as Taoiseach is that a man of such outstanding ability and intellect did not have the financial resources at his disposal to fully implement the changes to Irish society that he so wished. His contribution to this State should not be underestimated and certainly deserves more balanced and professional treatment than Vincent Browne and RTÉ accorded him, in what I can only describe as extremely poor television. - Yours, etc,
PHILIP LEONARD, Monaseed, Co Wexford.