Sir, - With reference to Mr Justice O'Flaherty's article in The Irish Times (September 25th) which examined Garret FitzGerald's "extraordinary portrait" of Cearbhall O Dalaigh (The Irish Times, September 20th), I would like to draw attention to similar statements by Garret FitzGerald on Prime Time on the evening of the same day.
In an interview with Brian Farrell, he mentioned that when the late President O Dalaigh resigned, he was glad to leave the Presidency, a feeling it was alleged was shared by his wife. He added that the President had been having "difficulties" with the government. I think it should be made clear that President O Dalaigh had an acute sense of office and nothing could have been further from his mind than a desire to vacate it.
At a dinner which I gave at home in 1976 to honour the writer Monk Gibbon on his 80th birthday, at which Sean White and an eminent senior counsel were present, Cearbhall O Dalaigh gave an account of the circumstances of his leaving the Presidency.
He had indeed, he told us, been unhappy at the attitude of the then coalition government towards the Presidency. What particularly concerned him was the failure of the Taoiseach to keep him officially informed of the affairs of State. He told us that only on four occasions since the Government had come into office over a period of almost two years had the Taoiseach visited him. He regarded this as deficient in the context of the Government's constitutional duty to keep the President informed on current affairs.
He also had concerns about the security provided for him as President. In particular, during an extended period at the time of the Herrema kidnapping, his customary security while travelling by train had been withdrawn.
The specific incident that led to his offering his resignation was when the then Minister for Defence referred to him, during the course of a dinner at which Army officers were present, as "a thundering bollocks" in expressing disapproval of his recent referral of a Bill to the Council of State. The Government, of which Garret FitzGerald was a senior member, having refused to allow an apology for this unprecedented attack on the presidential office (which embraced his role as Commander in Chief of the Army) Cearbhall O Dalaigh told us he had no alternative but to resign.
He then went on to relate how, after he had indicated to the Government his intention of leaving office, he received a telephone call from the Taoiseach asking if he might come up to the Aras to discuss the matter with him. He believed that it would have been inappropriate at this juncture to meet the Taoiseach to discuss his resignation. - Yours, etc.,
From Ulick O'Connor
Fairfield Park, Dublin 6.