Sir, - I would like to air my views on the qualities required for our next President and then suggest a person, who I feel would best fill the position. A President should be: Non-political with an impeccable pedigree, intelligent, used to speaking in public, diplomatic and capable of representing our country in a favourable light abroad, mature but not old, of pleasant personality and appearance, A team leader and capable of working with advisers and researchers, and linguistically gifted. It would also be an advantage to be female, having particular regard to the potential for humanitarian impact abroad.
I can think of only one person who possesses all of the above attributes. That person is Marian Finucane. I would be interested to learn if many of your readers would support this opinion and, if so, I would hope that Marian would permit her name to be nominated for the post. How this might be done in practice is another matter, having regard to the political stranglehold on the office. - Yours, etc., PAT O'BYRNE,
Glounthaune, Co Cork.