Madam, - Martin Tuohy (February 25th) rings a timely bell on the neglect of foreign policy. The trouble is that academics have a proprietorial stranglehold on it. They think that they know more about it than the practitioners of diplomacy on the ground.
A few years ago the outstanding Foreign Minister, Dick Spring, produced a landmark White Paper calling for "ownership of foreign policy by the people". In support of that promotion I wrote, in layman's language for lay people, a personal narrative of the origins and evolution of Irish foreign policy. It did not get published.
In fairness, the publishing house went out of its way to explain the academic closed shop and glass ceiling. Mr Tuohy's letter is a wake-up call for a renewal of interest in Dick Spring's ground-breaking campaign. His White Paper, always worth re-reading, was a first step. - Yours, etc.,
J.P. DUGGAN,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.