Sir, – Your Editorial (November 17th) in relation to the Willie Penrose resignation asks, “Is there perhaps an acceptable level of mendacity which we should be prepared to tolerate to grease the wheels of public debate”? The answer surely has to be No.
Is John Kennedy in a letter on the same day right to declare as “absurd” Willie Penrose’s resignation on the “parish-pump issue” of a local (ie not a Dublin-based) Army barracks? The answer again surely has to be No.
As a country which has down the years suffered from a surfeit of false electoral promises we have to stand by the principle that mendacity is not acceptable.
As a country which was governed from London for hundreds of years we also have to stand by the principle that the relegation of the local to a subservient position relative to the metropolitan is not acceptable.
Willie Penrose stood up for both principles. Good for him. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The sympathetic attitude of some in the media to the recent behaviour of Deputy Penrose is puzzling. Playing clientelist games is not what our country needs in our current difficulties. When the new Cabinet was being formed Mr Penrose made a fuss about getting a sufficiently big position for himself in the new government.
The position of authority he was given barely months ago required him to take the rough with the smooth. He should now accept the responsibility to the national good that the position entails. His recent breach of Cabinet collective responsibility is an attempt to weaken the resolve of the Government in facing the difficult decisions that have to be taken. As such, some would regard it as a self-serving action that betrays the mandate he was given by the Irish people. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Should we not look at the true culprits – the people of Mullingar and the rest of the Willie Penrose constituency? Their refusal to act in solidarity with the the rest of the country has (perhaps in a small way) compromised our Government, and placed in jeopardy the programme of reform that is necessary to get this country back on its economic bike. Should all constituencies with such minor concessions act accordingly, we would have no Government at all. And for what? There are no jobs to be lost.
Where now are the promises of a move away from parish pump politics? Leaders should lead – Mr Penrose is clearly a follower. – Yours, etc,