Madam, - I have long considered that the height of Vincent Browne's arrogance was matched only by the depth of his ignorance. His column of September 22nd, "Again it is the money that talks", is a mixture of deeply flawed analysis, sly innuendo, misrepresentation and character assassination masquerading as fair comment. It was more worthy of the National Enquirer than The Irish Times.
Not content with throwing mud at both Mary McAleese, who has been an excellent and honourable President, and Martin Naughton, one of the most outstanding businessmen this country has ever produced, he then turned his attentions to Pat Rabbitte, one of the more thoughtful of our party leaders. While I often disagree with what says, he grapples seriously with the issues facing face Irish society and has a passionate commitment to social change.
Mr Browne's final dismissive comment on Mr Rabbitte's call for a debate on clean needles shows just how out of touch he is with the realities of Irish life. Prisoners, the vast majority from the poor and marginalised parts of Irish society, are dying because we have had not had a debate on clean needles. - Yours, etc.,
SEAMUS MULCONRY,
Kings Avenue,
Ballybough,
Dublin 3.
Madam, - Some strange concepts of the principles and practice of democracy have come to light in the transition from one presidential term to the next. Some people proclaim, in the name of democracy, that they wish to nominate a candidate, while equally proclaiming that they do not actually support that candidate. What a travesty! If they do not believe that the candidate is the best for the job, why on earth would they nominate him or her?
In a free society, a person who is elected unopposed has a watertight democratic mandate, perhaps even more so than one who merely wins a majority of the vote. What service could it be to democracy to disregard the merits of the candidates in order to have an electoral contest?
On the other hand, if there are constitutional obstacles preventing entry into the contest of a person who has a genuine belief, shared by many other citizens, that he or she is the best person for the job, then that is a matter for a referendum for constitutional amendment. It is entirely irrelevant to a presidential election.
It is not to be tackled by means of bogus nominations producing a bogus election campaign. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK FARRELL, Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - So democracy has surfaced once again - this time in the shape of our elected representatives correctly reading the general feeling that our sitting president is doing a good job and is worthy of a second term. It's a hell of a lot better than squandering €15 million (have I the right figure?) of public funds in running a farcical contest whose outcome would be totally predictable. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN NEWMAN, Dublin 11.