Madam, - Though Charles Haughey had a great love of Dingle and its people, he was a lucky man that he did not live - and die - in Kerry. If he had, his expressed wishes with regard to his funeral mass would not have been allowed in any Catholic church in Kerry.
When a person dies in Kerry, the bereaved's family is issued with a purple booklet prepared by Bishop Bill Murphy of the Kerry diocese outlining what is not allowed to happen at the Mass.
No personal symbols of the deceased's life are allowed to be taken up at the offertory procession, no special requests for any music are entertained and no eulogy can be given by any member of the family.
How impoverished would Mr Haughey's funeral Mass have been without the inputs, among others, of Seamus Heaney, Finbarr Furey, and his son, Seán Haughey.
Having been born and raised in Killarney, maybe it is fate that has now brought me to Dublin. Perhaps I will live - and die - in the Dublin diocese and my extended family may travel from Kerry to celebrate a personalised funeral mass that every Catholic should be allowed to have, whether or not they did the State some service. - Yours, etc,
KATHRYN CROWLEY, Lansdowne Park, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.