Madam, - It is a defining characteristic of a republic that all citizens are equal before the law and have equal access to its protection.
Recent high-profile cases have again illustrated the extent to which we have moved from the rule of law to rule by lawyers. This State tolerates, indeed facilitates, the payment to lawyers not of salaries but of large capital sums.
These sums are utterly disproportionate to the qualifications of lawyers, to the nature and quality of their work and to the salaries paid to other occupations. The size of legal fees now means that the award of legal costs is frequently more important than the penalties laid down by the Oireachtas or libel damages awarded by the courts.
Most importantly, extravagant legal costs now deny many citizens access to the law and diminish this State's claim to be a republic. - Yours, etc,
SEAN McDONAGH,
Bettyglen,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.