Sir, – I am delighted to learn that, as we approach our 10th anniversary, a commentator as distinguished as Noel Whelan has joined the ranks of regular readers of the Irish Daily Mail ("Sadly, clothes will be an issue for female candidates", Opinion & Analysis, November 6th).
As grateful as I am for his attention, I would like – if I may – the opportunity to address what I would regard as the fractionally tendentious representation of an article in our paper earlier this week. Noel Whelan takes exception to a picture story at the bottom of page eight last Wednesday, which noted Frances Fitzgerald’s decision to wear the same outfit two days running. I am flattered that this should merit an entire column from such an august political analyst as Noel Whelan at a time when there is so much in politics to be analysing, such as the hospital trolley crisis.
However, Mail writers regularly comment on what people wear, from pop stars to politicians – in the latter category we have reported, inter alia, on Enda Kenny's lucky tie, Michael Noonan's budget outfits and Mick Wallace's pink shirts (Mary Lou McDonald's extraordinary tan has also been noted, but is not strictly speaking a vestiary matter). We have done so because ordinary people also look at, and comment on, what people in the public eye wear. If our crime is to share the interests of readers, we are guilty.
Noel Whelan also chides that the Mail "felt it had to be illustrated with two photographs of her wearing the outfit in question".
Of course the point had to be illustrated with photographs – that is what photographs do. They illustrate stories. (Wasn’t there something once about a picture and a thousand words?)
Moreover I cannot really see an alternative, as a line drawing would never have done Ms Fitzgerald’s outfit justice.
Finally, your columnist suggests that the Mail gave this sartorial issue "almost as much prominence in the newspaper as the event itself". In fact, the pictures were the last item at the bottom of the page in question, and were presented under the headline word "PS". Doubtless as educated a man as Mr Whelan knows that PS is Latin. It is an abbreviation for the words "post scriptum", which essentially mean "written after". In other words, it was an afterthought, and was presented as such.
The main thrust of our piece, in fact, ran under the far bigger headline “Minister accepts burglars can be out within two years”, which followed our previous day’s front-page lead on the same issue – specifically that Ms Fitzgerald’s much-vaunted crackdown on “serial criminals” will not allow serial burglars to be jailed for more than two years, however many dozens of offences they have committed in the past.
What we at the Mail consider truly newsworthy are issues like the trolley crisis or crime, which affect so many people in this country. I can therefore assure Mr Whelan that we will continue as a newspaper to highlight these life-changing issues on behalf of Irish people.
However he may need to forgive us if, along the way, we occasionally choose to entertain our readers as well. – Yours, etc,
SEBASTIAN HAMILTON,
Group Editor,
Irish Mail Newspapers,
Embassy House,
Herbert Park Lane,
Dublin 4.