Sir, - Dr Connell's recent remarks stun me. As the eldest of four planned children, I saw how hard my parents worked, my mother in particular, managing a six-person household with a small income, ensuring we received a decent education, and thus a wider choice of lifestyle. In my view, were I one of 17 or 22 children, as some of my neighbours were, I would be living a totally different life.
Like many mothers now in their late sixties, mine put her own life on hold to look after us; it is tragic that she died without knowing what a success she made of us. Even more tragic to me is that within six months of her death, I found myself in Dr Connell's house, grandly called the Bishops' Palace (my ex-husband having applied for an annulment following our separation), where I was subjected to questions about the sex life of my parents by one of Dr Connell's henchmen.
Because I refused to repeat the oath of secrecy at the end of a gruelling two-and-a-half hours, I can and will discuss exactly what goes on there. It is a measure of how hideous that experience was (over four years ago) that I only now mention it, in an effort to show the double standards at work in Drumcondra. - Yours, etc., Jane Shortall,
Portmarnock, Co Dublin.