Madam, - I was disappointed that Prof William Reville (August 25th) repeated the old canard that Rocco Buttiglione withdrew from a position as EU commissioner because of a conspiracy of left- wing liberal forces in the European Parliament. If this were the case it would certainly bring into question the values of tolerance espoused by those of us who are not ashamed of being both liberal and on the left of the political spectrum.
However the truth is that Mr Buttiglione has a quite extraordinary track record of opposing and undermining a whole series of moves to develop the human and social rights of women, minorities and gay people. He campaigned and voted in a most negative way on these issues and caused very great offence by his intemperate and abusive use of language. To put him in a role where he supervised on behalf of the peoples of Europe developments in these areas would have been absurd in the extreme. It was a question of horses for courses, and Mr Buttiglione proved himself to be an ass.
I was also sorry to see Prof Reville use his column to attack the late Dr Noel Browne who will be forever remembered by the Irish people as the champion of the poor, the underprivileged and those suffering from the affliction of TB. - Yours, etc,
Senator DAVID NORRIS, Seanad Éireann, Dublin.