RONAN HOWE,
Sir, - It really comes as no surprise that Bertie Ahern is taking his latest stance against the FAI. His main sporting interests always seem to lie with the GAA, and when he talks about soccer it's always his beloved Man Utd (whom no doubt he would watch on Sky TV).
While I couldn't possibly agree with a lot of what the FAI have done recently, I feel they are 100 per cent correct in their recent dealings with Sky. As someone who goes quite regularly to National League matches, it is easy to see how some of the extra income from this deal could be spent. Most importantly, a lot of it could be used to improve facilities for local clubs which develop players from a very young age. That is where it all starts for Irish soccer, and that is where the future stars of Irish soccer will come from.
Bertie Ahern is just jumping on the bandwagon again in a transparent attempt to maintain his popularity. He should get back to his real job of running the country. There are far more important problems he should be dealing with. - Yours, etc.,
RONAN HOWE, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
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Sir, - Paul Cullen's analysis of the Sky-FAI deal (The Irish Times, July 12th) contained a number of serious inaccuracies. The piece alleged that the Government was unwilling to tackle the FAI for fear of upsetting Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, owner of the Sunday Times.
Elaborating on his undergraduate-style conspiracy theory, your reporter went on to state that this was because the newspaper had supported Fianna Fáil in the recent general election.
Even a cursory glance through the editions leading up to the vote would have shown that statement to be entirely untrue. Two weeks before the election, the Sunday Times ran a lead story highlighting concern that a Fianna Fáil majority government would herald a new era of sleaze. On the same page, it carried a report on the private tour of Farmleigh arranged for the Taoiseach and his partner last Christmas.
On the Sunday before the election, and with the polls predicting a majority for Fianna Fáil, our editorial cautioned against returning the party to power on its own and urged a first-preference vote for the Progressive Democrats.
Had Mr Cullen taken the time to check his facts, or to contact The Sunday Times for a comment on his damaging allegations, he would have learned that they were based on a falsehood. In fact, in the run-up to the election, the newspaper drew several complaints from Fianna Fáil over what it deemed to be harsh comment. - Yours, etc.,
FIONA MCHUGH, Editor, The Sunday Times, Ireland.
Paul Cullen writes: There is no inaccuracy as claimed by Ms McHugh. My article made no allegations, but sought to develop an explanation for the Government's feeble initial response to the Sky/FAI deal.
It cited international examples of Rupert Murdoch's controversial interactions with politicians, and noted the Sunday Times's approving remark on the television deal as "another respectable leap towards financial viability" for the FAI. And it noted the support given by the paper to Fianna Fáil before the election. On May 12th, the party's "pro-enterprise" policies were adjudged "the best of a bad lot". That the editorial concluded by advising voters to give their first-preferences on a tactical basis to the PDs merely tempered this support.
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Sir, - May I respectively request that you confine your sports news to your sports pages. Like many other people, I do not care how either Rupert Murdoch or the FAI spend their money. - Yours, etc.,
CONOR MURPHY, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.