Madam, - While I understand that we should not blatantly disrespect the assurances given by a friendly ally, what surprises me is that the Government has not relied even further on the relationship of mutual respect with America to solve the difficulty over Shannon.
Surely the Bush administration can understand the Irish Government's predicament and can offer its international friend a more tangible and respectful gesture? As the US have verbally assured us that there is no questions of prisoners being taken through this country for torture, it should have no objection to our authorities checking its planes to assuage any national concerns.
If one weighs up the international risks of the current approach against the minor nuisance of checking a plane which has been guaranteed not to hold any prisoners, then surely in this time of large national sums, our Government can put this two and two together. - Yours, etc,
ANDREA PAPPIN, Clontarf, Dublin 3.
