Madam, - Kevin Myers' apology for his disgraceful use of language should not be accepted by anyone. These were not words spoken or written in haste or in anger. This was a carefully crafted and recrafted article written over the course of a week.
Mr Myers knew exactly what he was doing and knew exactly what the response would be. Attention-seeking through being outrageous is Mr Myers' stock in trade. I believe this is a device to compensate for his poor use of language and weak argumentative skills.
Can The Irish Times not find a champion of the right with the command of language and basic decency of Fintan O'Toole? The current crop of rightwingers, Messrs Myers, Waters and Steyn do no credit to what used to be a quality newspaper. - Yours, etc.,
ALAN McPARTLAND,
Grange Court,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
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Madam,- Kevin Myers is a most courageous and crusading journalist of long standing and long may he be associated with your excellent newspaper for many years to come. I far from agree with him on a number of his chosen topics as published in his column, An Irishman's Diary, but I never cease to admire him for his honesty, and provocative and forthright style of writing.
Unlike his critics, his wholesome apology on Thursday was most gracious. - Yours, etc.,
DONIE BUTLER,
The Paddocks,
Naas,
Co Kildare.
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Madam, Why is it that when Kevin Myers calls lone Irish parents "mothers of bastards", he is widely condemned for the hurt his comments cause to these mothers' blameless children, but when columnists and public officials accuse immigrant mothers of being fraudsters and carriers of disease, we enshrine this animosity towards their (equally blameless) children in the Constitution? - Yours, etc.,
JOANNE MARIE MANCINI,
Dublin 6.
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Madam, - For many years Kevin Myers has been one of the few journalists who has spoken out repeatedly and courageously against the IRA and its political wing, Sinn Féin.
Over more than three decades the IRA has murdered, maimed, bombed and intimidated. It has done so to a far greater degree than any other terrorist organisation in NI. It has done so with the connivance of this State, with the indifference of most of its citizens, and the active support of many.
Kevin has now written one ill-advised article and the chattering classes are in a lather of indignation.
What a pity that these same people never showed a tenth of this when confronted by the terrible actions of those claiming to speak in their name. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID HERMAN,
Meadow Grove,
Dublin 16.
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Madam, - Et tu Geraldine, -Yours, etc.,
TOM FABBY,
Cloonagh
Westport,
Co Mayo.
Madam,- It is almost seven days since Kevin Myers' faux pas. He had the manners and wisdom to recognise his mistake and apologise for it. Much hurt and damage has been caused by your decision to publish his article.
Why have you and The Irish Times not yet apologised for your error of judgment? Yes, you have "regretted the decision to publish the Diary" of Kevin Myers. You have sought to explain and justify your decision to print the article. In doing so you have failed miserably.
Apologise now and stop trying to justify your mistaken and grave error of judgement. - Yours etc.,
PATRICK O'CONNOR,
Loughaven,
Cuillonaghton Callow,
Foxford,
Co Mayo.
Madam, - I believe that Kevin Myers' use of the word "bastard" was intentionally provocative.
It is worth quoting Chief Justice O'Higgins in G v An Bord Uchtala [1980] which appears in J. M. Kelly's The Irish Constitution (4th Edition, 2004): "At common law an illegitimate child was termed 'filius nullius' and regarded as being no more that the 'unfortunate offspring of the common failing of a man and woman', a burden on the locality and a person to be shunned. In this uncertain treatment of a human being natural rights were, of course, forgotten and a lonely life was ordained merely because of the accident of birth. Not only is this not so now under the Constitution, but the State has the added obligation to defend and vindicate in its laws all natural rights of all citizens."
Now, a quarter of a century later, do we really live in more enlightened times?
The late politically incorrect comedian Benny Hill once remarked "Have you ever noticed that it is people who are in favour of birth control that have already been born". - Yours, etc.,
PAUL F. O'CONNOR,
Rivendell,
Suncroft,
Curragh, Co. Kildare.