Sir, - Am I the only person in the country who sees Mrs McAleese's action as both vulgar and self-serving? Had she wished to receive communion in the Protestant rite, there are any number of local churches where she could have done so with discretion and respect. Instead, she chose to turn a rite sacred to all Christians into a cheap publicity stunt.
Patronising Protestants is not bridge-building: it is insensitive and insulting to both traditions. But then, ambition for personal power is always insensitive and the President's egotism in this regard has proved, once again, to be no exception. Her ignorance of the conventions of civilised living has sparked off a divisive and unnecessary controversy of the kind we had hoped we had long left behind us. At one stroke, she has undermined the solid (and unsung) work of people who have spent their lives finding ways to accommodate differences in interchurch relations.
The President will serve us better when she learns how to conduct herself in public with good sense and good manners. - Yours, etc.,
Kilronan Court, Dublin 3.