Madam, - As an agricultural science graduate of UCD I took grave exception to Fintan O'Toole's column of November 15th, in which he made a snide and totally untrue remark about agricultural science students singing Patricia the Stripper when they were "letting it all hang out after their third bottle of Taylor Keith lemonade" when he was in college.
Could I remind Mr O'Toole that many of those "ag science" graduates went on to higher things, including chief executive positions in leading agri-food companies such as Glanbia and IAWS, not to mention Maireád McGuinness being elected an MEP in last year's European Parliament election?
No doubt some of Mr O'Toole's fellow arts graduates made major contributions to Irish life, but I suspect that quite a number are tinkering at writing or trying to make their way in the arts, while sniggering at people in the real world, including agricultural science, while eating a cucumber sandwich and sipping a dry white wine in the so-called cool bars of central Dublin. - Yours, etc,
PETER MARTYN, Breaffy, Castlebar, Co Mayo.