Sir, - Congratulations on your courageous and forthright Editorial of August 21st. There is no doubt that the lack of leadership at all levels in our society has greatly contributed to the hardening of Irish racist and xenophobic attitudes. This cowardly lack of leadership has been compounded by the Irish tabloid press and by some late-evening phone-in programmes.
The Taoiseach was featured on last Saturday's evening TV news in Santry Stadium gleaning whatever political capital he could from the Irish Olympic preparations. That very evening racist attacks occurred in Dun Laoghaire which could have had very grave outcomes. Why didn't the Taoiseach openly and publicly condemn these attacks by racist thugs? Was it because he might lose votes in North Dublin where the rise of racism is almost palpable? His Government promised to launch an anti-racist public awareness campaign some time ago. Two years ago was the time for such a programme, not when attitudes have obviously hardened.
As an Irish citizen seeking to uphold the values of tolerance and cultural co-existence, I wish to apologise on behalf of many Irish decent people to these recent victims of the racist venom that is now unfortunately a permanent blot on our Irish cultural landscape. - Yours, etc.,
Brendan Butler, Pennock Hill, Swords, Co Dublin.