Madam, - When the most hateful and dangerous elements of society, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the British National Party, the National Front and the Afrikaner Resistance Movement leader Eugene Terreblanche, send their praise, you know you have done something seriously wrong.
Mr McDowell has disgraced this country and single-handedly branded me, and everyone else in Ireland, as racists. How dare he!
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine opening up an Irish newspaper to see the hooded face of a racist coward holding the "stars and bars" in praise of my country, or reading in another Irish newspaper of how delighted a dangerous and known terrorist is for us.
Thanks to Mr McDowell, we are now associated with the worst elements of humankind. Hitler would have been so proud. - Yours, etc.,
DEIRDRE NÍ MHÓRDHA, Grange Park Grove, Raheny, Dublin 5