Madam, - Your Environment Editor's comments on the appointment and qualifications of Brian Duffy as my Department's chief archaeologist are unfair and unwarranted and rely openly on academic snobbery (Agenda, December 5th).
The opinions offered have been drawn largely from a legal submission on one side of a pending court case - hardly the basis for a balanced piece of journalism.
To attack a civil servant on this basis is not worthy of Frank McDonald. Mr Duffy's job is to lead and manage the team of very able archaeologists working in the Department. In that work, he enjoys the full confidence of his team and superiors - as well as my support. Mr Duffy was appointed to his position because he had all the necessary qualities for the job. It is wrong to presume that academic awards should be the only or main criterion on which appointments are made. Over the years, many top public servants, businessmen and businesswomen, and indeed journalists, who don't have PhDs after their name have made a huge contribution to Irish life.
In a second article on the same page Mr McDonald attributes certain comments to the Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Lord Rooker. What he fails to point out to your readers was that Lord Rooker was responding to comments made by Frank McDonald. Hardly a dispassionate source of information! - Yours, etc,
DICK ROCHE TD, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.