Madam, - If the gifts to Bertie Ahern had been made instead on the occasion of his marriage, would there now be this fuss? Tributes paid to leaders - a slain goat or a new bullock, in times of triumph or tragedy - go back to Roman times and still persist in the Western democracies. Within recent memory a French president accepted a bucket of diamonds from an African dictator, and the crown prince of our neighbouring monarchy was found to be selling gifts from foreign leaders and he is still in line for the throne.
The Prime Minister of the same country has accepted many free family holidays in the salubrious overseas villas of foreign and domestic millionaires, while his wife has been earning hundreds of thousands of pounds in speaking engagements simply because she is married to him.
By these standards of accepted behaviour, virtually all of the Western democracies are currently corrupt. Such trivial reasons for sacking a capable and popular head of government are beyond common sense. As Hilaire Belloc warned: "Always keep a hold of Nurse/ For fear of finding someone worse."
Or, as we say in my native Armagh: "Yez need to get a hoult of yourselves." - Yours, etc,
PADDY McGARVEY,
Cambridge,
England.
Madam, - The programme scheduled for RTÉ 1 last Wednesday afternoon about 4.25 was entitled Hope and Faith but it was replaced by a broadcast from Dáil Éireann where an unconvincing live Taoiseach tried to explain away the receipt of some €50,000.
It seems to me. on the basis of his performance that he will need bucketfuls of the former and tons of the latter to see him through this one. - Yours, etc,
ARTHUR DUNNE,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
A Chara, - Mary Raftery's column on Thursday should be compulsory reading for all those whose heartstrings were tugged by the Taoiseach's television interview on Tuesday evening.
Quotation after quotation destroys any notion that he had made "an honest mistake" for the manner and clarity of the language used showed a deep understanding by Mr Ahern of a Minister's responsibilities, code of conduct and most importantly what does and does not constitute a loan.
The primary concern here is not the Taoiseach's personal difficulties at the time but his observance of the very standards he himself has set.
Anything else would be a hypocrisy unfitting the office and should surely make his position untenable. Anything less could damage the credibility of governance in this country beyond repair. - Is mise,
DAVID O SULLIVAN,
The Island,
Chapelizod,
Dublin 20.
Madam, - How is it that Bertie Ahern, an accountant by profession, was deemed competent to be in charge of the nation's finances when he couldn't manage his own? - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O'DONNELL,
Old Youghal Road,
Cork.
Madam, - Is it now time for Bertie to take a leaf out of his daughter's book and write his own blockbuster - "P.S. I owe you"? - Yours, etc,
GERALDINE HODNETT,
Riverdale,
Skibbereen,
West Cork.
Madam, - I have no political allegiances, but I think it must be admitted, even by his detractors, that Bertie Ahern has been a very able leader and negotiator during his time in office.
His successes in relation to the peace process and in Europe have been remarkable and have been carried out in a selfless and unassuming manner.
The injured lion is now being nipped at by the hovering hyenas. Our righteous opposition leaders - Kenny, Rabbitte and Higgins - spurred on by the tabloid mentality of the media, have found one of their wounded colleagues on the ground and are taking turns to take cowardly kicks to the head, before slinking back to the pack, lest he recover.
Had Bertie Ahern been corrupt back in 1993 he would not have found himself in the financial bind that he obviously did. It doesn't add up. I find the whole matter extremely hypocritical and distasteful. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN O'CONNELL,
Salthill,
Galway.
Madam, - One can only speculate as to the stance that would have been taken by Mr Des O'Malley in recent days if he were still leader of the Progressive Democrats.
This was Mr McDowell's first test at maintaining the standard and integrity of his party in Government and he appears to have fumbled it.
He would have been wiser to observe the adage that principles are like bayonets: things you stand by rather than fall back upon. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN McMAHON,
Elmwood,
Naas,
Co Kildare.
Madam, - It seems that Mr Ahern was familiar with Manchester's "prawn sandwich" brigade long before Mr Roy Keane informed us of its existence. - Yours, etc,
KENNETH B ROBINSON,
Tyrrellstown,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - One cannot help wondering which was the lesser of the two evils: that a serving minister for finance would accept a whip-around from businessmen, or that the businessmen involved had reason to be confident that he would be neither embarrassed nor offended by the offer. - Yours, etc,
GERRY RONAN,
Donabate,
Co Dublin.
Madam, - It is disappointing for many voters that, given the opportunity Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte had to question the Taoiseach in the Dáil last Wednesday about money he received as Minster of Finance, neither took issue with the appointment of "friends" to State boards. They avoided this thorny issue by concentrating on the tax implications of the personal donations.
From this omission it is clear to all, including their "friends", that should they ever gain power State board appointments will continue to be at the behest of political leaders rather than on merit.
It is a poor reflection on all the main political parties that positions on State boards can be divvied out without regard to the best interests of the agencies, their employees or the strategic importance of many of these boards to the economy. - Yours, etc,
MARK DALY,
Castlefield Woods,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - The Taoiseach's potentially watershed interview while visiting Ballyjamesduff prompts the question: Was he there trying to find another Paddy Reilly? - Yours,
SEAN MacENTEE,
Bettystown Cross,
Co Meath.