Madam, - There is an old adage saying that if you have a reputation for getting up early you can lie in bed until noon. Such is the case with the Taoiseach.
His reputation with many people seems to stem from a throwaway comment by Charles Haughey that Bertie Ahern was "the most cunning, the most devious of them all". The first person to go on record as having seen through this was the chief executive of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, who has consistently portrayed Mr Ahern as a ditherer, particularly in relation to Aer Rianta.
His responses to various crises that have arisen since his elevation to Taoiseach, involving members of his own party as diverse as Liam Lawlor, Denis Foley, Beverley Cooper-Flynn and most recently Ivor Callely, show a man who will shy away from hard decisions and procrastinate until a decision is forced on him.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Mr O'Leary's description is the more accurate. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN McMAHON, Elmwood, Naas, Co Kildare.