A chara, – Elected Irish politicians, especially those in Government, shouldn’t contact Irish judges to influence Irish cases. But it’s an entirely different thing when the politician and the judge are from different systems. In that case, there is no fouling of the separation of powers and no reason for the influence, if any, to be based on improper considerations.
When former Bosnian Serb politician Biljana Plavsic was sentenced for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, prominent international personalities, including former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, argued for mitigation. Nobody thought that was unacceptable. Nor should they deprecate David Norris’s noble effort to ensure that an old friend wasn’t punished too harshly. – Is mise,
Sir, – John Waters’s diatribe (Opinion & Analysis, August 5th)attempts, in effect, to equate
David Norris’s error of judgment, in pleading for mercy after the conviction of his then lover, with the clerical child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.
Well, for starters, Mr Norris doesn’t run 90 per cent of our primary schools and the great majority of our secondary ones.
Mr Waters raves on about the “media” and “the establishment”. Is this the same John Waters who has two weekly columns in national newspapers — one of them in The Irish Times, of course, and who is a regular fixture on radio and TV programmes?
– Yours, etc,
Sir, – A few short weeks ago the Taoiseach waxed indignant ( incorrectly indignant, as it transpired) about the alleged interference of another state in the affairs of this country. The usual suspects responded to the speech with gusto. Fast-forward a fortnight. A prominent member of the Oireachtas seeks to interfere in the internal affairs of a secular state on behalf of a convicted sex offender.
We now know this man was a regular visitor to this country as a guest of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee member. In order to restore the credibility of the Oireachtas, the least we should expect from the Government is the setting up of a judicial inquiry, on the lines of the Cloyne report, to establish whether the Oireachtas has been fatally compromised by association. As a first step in restoring public confidence, one assumes the Taoiseach will call for the resignation of the offending Oireachtas member. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Just when this dual-citizenship American ex-pat thinks Ireland is finally joining the 21st century, I am proven wrong.
When a respected writer such as John Waters can’t see the forest for the trees (it was a consensual act according to the Israeli judge in the trial), I am inclined to believe if the Irish had the privilege, as we do in America, of a write-in vote on their ballot in the forthcoming election, Mr Norris would be Ireland’s next president.
On the other hand, considering his potential opponents, perhaps it really is time to discontinue the office. – Yours, etc,