Sir, – Olivia O'Leary's article on judicial remuneration (Opinion, February 28th) should be compulsory reading for our much-beleaguered Cabinet.
Chief Justice, Mrs Susan Denham and the President of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns argue that the reduction in remuneration and expenses will produce a “second best” judiciary.
What a gratuitous insult to the thousands of frontline staff in our health services, gardaí, teachers, etc, who have endured pay cuts without any hope of redress, and most of whom will never even see a salary that will remotely match their lordships’ pensions.
The statements of “mluds” is further proof, if further proof is needed, of the existence of a strata in our society whose self-assessed worth places them on a different plane to everyone else.
Now, where’s that bottle of wine . . . I need a well-rounded, full-bodied vintage with a good nose to wash the taste of disgust from my mouth!
Could “mluds” advise or even better, refer me to the “mendicant monk”? – Yours, etc,
JO O’DONOVAN,
Kilnock,
Ballon, Carlow.
Sir, – As a mendicant friar I read with intense interest Olivia O’Leary’s column (Opinion, February 28th). Your distinguished columnist writes “It’s not easy, being a mendicant friar . . . with a taste for fine wine”.
As someone who dabbles a little in church history as well as living the day-today life of the aforesaid profession, I can assure Olivia O’Leary that the two roles are not at all incompatible. – Yours, etc,
Fr IGGY O’DONOVAN,
O’Connell Street,
Limerick.