Madam, - Even if the payments received by the Taoiseach are viewed in the most generous light - that there is no outstanding tax liability, that no laws or written codes were broken and that no favours were given - Bertie Ahern still has serious charges to answer.
His decision not to disclose these unusual and significant financial transactions over the course of 13 years has damaged the credibility of the Taoiseach's office and of Irish politics. His many statements on corruption, which covered such issues as gifts from personal friends and informal loans, can now only be seen as grossly hypocritical.
The Taoiseach misrepresented the truth concerning this matter as recently as last week when he described amounts accurately reported in The Irish Times as "off the wall".
The Taoiseach and all members of Cabinet who aspire to his office must publicly acknowledge these errors of judgment. You and your paper are to be congratulated on your courageous reporting of this matter. You have done the Irish people a significant service. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL MORIARTY, Clones Road, Monaghan.
Madam, - I presume Michael McDowell will now call for the abolition of gift tax. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'NEILL, Neville Road, Dublin 6.
Madam, - Surely we have all given friends small sums of money in their time of need and called it a loan to protect their dignity. Anyone who has experienced the nightmare of separation and the loss of a home will know the damage it does to one's morale and self-esteem.
One cannot compare Charlie Chawke's "small change" to the sums that Ben Dunne gave Haughey or Lowry. I find the attempts to turn Bertie Ahern's personal affairs into a political issue despicable and the people who do so to be beneath contempt.
I have never met Bertie Ahern and I am not a Fianna Fáil supporter. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL ANDERSON, Richmond Row, Portobello, Dublin 8.
Madam, - When asked during his RTÉ interview about making appointments to State boards for alleged favours, the Taoiseach defended himself by saying: "I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends, not because of anything they had given me".
The fact that such a blatant admission of cronyism went completely unchallenged by Brian Dobson is a measure of how much we have come to accept low standards in public life. - Yours, etc,
ANTHONY SHERIDAN, Carraig Eoin, Cobh, Co Cork.
Madam, - A few days of silence, followed by a sometimes emotional statement. It has all the hallmarks of the product of a few days with the spin-doctors. - Yours, etc,
GERARD CLARKE, Stirling Park, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Watching the interview with the Taoiseach I was struck by the honesty and humility of the man, while cringing at the baying for blood by the Opposition. The strident tones of Joan Burton and the holier-than-thou attitude of Enda Kenny since this "leak" made me resolve to do something I have never done before - vote Fianna Fáil in the next election.
The man has a life outside politics. He is a separated man, a father of two and, not surprisingly, a man with friends. Personally I would much prefer to be allied with a flawed "ordinary man" than a self-styled paragon of virtue. I don't doubt his difficulty in washing his personal linen in public; he was cognisant of there being others involved - his separated wife and his daughters, not to mention the friends who came to his rescue in a time of need.
As a supposedly educated electorate we ought to be capable of recognising that life for our politicians continues while away from the political arena. They encounter personal difficulties like the rest of us; they make unwise decisions like the rest of us; and they have friends like the rest of us.
Do most of us not hope that when we hit a rough patch our friends will look out for us? A statement attributed to Monica Lewinsky came to mind. "I never felt violated until Ken Starr began his investigation".
Is this a route we really want to go down? - Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH HONAN, Cahirciveen, Co Kerry.
Madam, - As someone who is living below the average industrial wage, I am amused at this new term "dig-out" which we hear from Fianna Fáil Ministers and spokesmen. I have never had a dig-out at difficult times in my life, but then I am not a Minister for Finance or a high office-holder.
At the time Bertie was earning over £73,000 a year (a lot of money even now). He had a State car and generous allowances. How do other people manage to survive in such circumstances? - Yours, etc,
BRIAN McCAFFREY, Clifton Crescent, Galway.
Madam, - I am disgusted by the antics of the Taoiseach. He has lectured us long enough about ethics in Government. The office of Taoiseach has been tainted. Resign, Mr Ahern; this is embarrassing. - Yours, etc,
PAUL DORAN, Monastery Walk, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
Madam, - Like Bernard Quinn (September 27th), I recently came through a very difficult separation in which I was lucky enough to have the help of a financially supportive family. Had I not received such help, I would face financial ruin now.
I accept that Mr Quinn did not expect his friends and/or family to "chip in", but if such help had been offered, would he have refused it?
To my mind, Mr Ahern has nothing to come clean about and I find it appalling that his personal circumstances should be revealed to the public at large and discussed on a daily basis.
The media might investigate the extortionate fees charged, always in advance, by family law solicitors to their clients - a much more interesting exercise. - Yours, etc,
J.B. de VILLENEUVE, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Oscar Wilde's observation on his reading of The Old Curiosity Shop, that "anyone who can read about the death of little Nell, without bursting out laughing, has to have a heart of stone", strikes me as the most appropriate comment on the Taoiseach's Tuesday evening performance on RTÉ News. - Yours, etc,
CHARLES M. QUINN, Eglinton Road, Dublin 4.