Sir, - The news that Maire Geoghegan Quinn will not go forward for re election because of media intrusion into her family's life is sad. It is sad because we will lose an extremely able, articulate and hard working member of the Dail, who has served her country faithfully.
As a symptom of the malaise in public life, it is even sadder. It is only within the last decade that the media have discarded the old decencies of differentiating between the public and private lives of our elected representatives.
Media people use highfalutin terms, such as "the right to know", "freedom of information" and the "duty to be a thorn in the establishment's side" to defend what often is low gossip. Journalists increasingly expect high ethical standards of others; they now need to consider their own ethics. There are now so many formal and informal disincentives to running for high office that democracy itself is threatened.
I wish Maire Geoghegan Quinn well in whatever new career she chooses; she is sure to be successful, and likely to be better paid than as a deputy. - Yours, etc.,
Oakhampton House,
Newport,
Co Tipperary.