Madam, - Beverley Flynn trumpets long and hard the defence that she was "only following orders" - a mitigation with a less than illustrious pedigree.
Surely the proposed expulsion from Fianna Fáil is about more than hawking tax evasion "products" in a previous career. The real scandal is in the use of deep pockets to steamroller attempts to get at the truth.
If those who patently lose little sleep over the risk of massive legal costs can set the agenda for what appears in our papers and on the airwaves, democracy and free speech are fatally wounded. - Yours, etc.,
TONY MULQUEEN, Aughrim Oaks, Aughrim, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Ms Beverley Flynn has complained that "the Fianna Fáil of 20, 30 years ago" would have backed her in her libel action against RTÉ (The Irish Times, May 5th).
Well, of course they would have. Isn't that exactly the point? - Yours, etc.,
MARK A. PERRY, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, England.
Madam, - Has Beverley Flynn lost all sense of reality? I listened incredulously as she pleaded over the national airwaves for fair treatment by the Fianna Fáil Ard Comhairle. She is asking for justice and equality of treatment by her party colleagues. What about those of us who diligently paid our taxes while she ably assisted customers of National Irish Bank to evade tax? Where was her sense of equality and fairness then? - Is mise,
LOUISE O'REILLY, Downpatrick Road, Dublin 12.
Madam, - In defence of her actions, Beverley Flynn has claimed she was "only following orders". In other words, she was merely facilitating the will of her then superior or superiors.
Bertie Ahern has rejected this and recommended her outright expulsion from the Fianna Fáil party.
It would be interesting therefore to ascertain what course of action the Taoiseach might recommend in relation to one who co-signed blank cheques that were then used to misappropriate funds from the same party, apparently to facilitate the will of his then superior. - Yours, etc.,
JAKE WALSH, Walshestown, Clogherhead, Co Louth.
Madam, - It is possible to overdo the application of logic, and Fintan O'Toole does so in his column of May 4th. His statement that "public money comes from taxes and institutional tax evasion means there's less of it" is excessively global to apply to the voters who support Beverley Flynn and Michael Lowry.
To paraphrase Marx: although bigger spoons won't put more soup in the pot, nevertheless what people want is, precisely, bigger spoons. - Yours, etc.,
ANDREW ROBINSON, Marlborough Road, Dublin 4.