Madam, - It is interesting to note that Green Party TD John Gormley describes Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue as a "sewer rat". All week Mr Gormley has been pleading for an apology from the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell for remarks made against him in the Dáil. It seems that Mr Gormley likes to dish out verbal abuse; however, he is not man enough to take it in return. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY, South Dock Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4.
Madam, - What sounded like Michael McDowell could be overheard in the Dáil during questions saying that common abuse is not defamatory, a defence of his remarks about Richard Bruton as nothing more than the rough and tumble of political exchange. A former Tory Party member in Britain has just beeen awarded £10,000 damages plus over £7,000 costs against a lecturer who called him a Nazi on the web. Calling somebody a Nazi goes way beyond common abuse, and to suggest otherwise is to reveal an appalling ignorance of history, not to mention other recent criminal cases elsewhere in Europe. - Yours, etc,
EOIN DILLON, Ceannt Fort, Mount Brown, Dublin 8.
Madam, - Psychologists are excited at the discovery of a new and rare psychological condition, known as Irritable McDowell Syndrome. - Yours, etc,
Dr REAMONN Ó DONNCHADHA, Terenure, Dublin 6W.