Sir - The bandwagon that is the Hugh O' Flaherty nomination process is showing extraordinary resilience considering the ambushes it has encountered all summer long. Tattered and torn it may be, but there seems to be no way that Mr McCreevy will let that wagon stop until it pulls up outside the Luxembourg headquarters of the European Investment Bank.
Perhaps it is time, though, for the Minister to step off the wagon for a moment and survey the appalling damage wrought on all involved. The fact of EIB directors receiving e-mails from the people of Ireland on the subject should surely be enough to halt the whole process. Replacing Mr O'Flaherty with an other nominee at this late stage is likely to be another recipe for disaster. The Irish Government should let its right to nominate a director of the bank lapse this time, take credit for listening to the country, and roll out the bandwagon afresh again in a few years' time. - Yours, etc.,
Cian Dooley, Shelbourne Village, Dublin 4.