Madam, - Seldom have I encountered as spiteful a piece of journalism as that by Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, August 12th) regarding the Taoiseach's attendance at his daughter's wedding in France.
That Mr O'Toole has never been a fan of this Taoiseach is well known. Politics is a rough game and politicians have to be prepared to take it on the chin. But is Mr O'Toole seriously suggesting that it was the Taoiseach who organised the French wedding and the Hello! magazine connection? If not, is he suggesting that Mr Ahern, when told of the arrangements, should not have attended his own daughter's wedding? Would that have made him less of a "shambolic" father?
The truth is, of course, that Mr O'Toole is a socialist who has never forgiven the world for rejecting his creed and electing politicians such as Mr Ahern. The same can be said for Ivana Bacik (August 13th). Ms Bacik (how kind of her on this occasion not to overawe us with her title of Reid Professor of Law) writing from the (presumably) non-tacky fastness of Trinity College, adds her three halfpence worth to Mr O'Toole's diatribe. She too is a disappointed socialist who has seen the world reject her creed, and someone must pay; and if his daughter chooses to marry a pop star and have a celebrity wedding in France, well then let it be Mr Ahern.
The pity in all of this is that Mr O'Toole's and Ms Bacik's loudly expressed concern for the people is not reflected in their respect for the people's choice at the polling booth. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT O'CONNOR,
Fianna Fáil Youth Officer,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.
Madam, - The latter-day gentry, nouveau aesthetes, aspiring bourgeois and élitist academics, not to mention a score of outraged inkslingers, appear to have considerable difficulty with the shocking realisation that a gardener's son from Drumcondra can ascend to the highest office in the land and that he and his beautiful daughter can then whimsically, hilariously and oh so irritatingly cock a snook at the pompous, smug and pious pontificators and self-appointed arbiters of moral and social values, the closet colonialists, crawthumpers and forelock-tuggers grovelling before their Continental betters, and their insipid followers of provincial clones gagging on their white wine and kiwi. And that it should happen in France! What Gall! What Chique - sorry, cheek!
Perhaps Fintan, Ivana et al. should repair to their comfy chairs in the Drones Club and there, maybe over a bracing glass or two of warm milk, lament the declining standards, the lack of "class", the absence of "taste", and generally rather embarrassing behaviour of their inferiors in modern Irish society. - Yours, etc.,
Dr KEVIN BYRNE,
Duncannon,
New Ross,
Co Wexford.