Sir, – I welcome the (part) restoration of funding to Scouting Ireland (Front page, June 25th). I owe scouting a huge debt and had some of the best days of my life through scouting.
However, in addition to the fun, I also learned more about public service, about the environment, about working together, about respect, about democracy, about truth and friendship, in scouting than I did anywhere else. The last few months have been awful for those of us committed to the values and benefits of scouting. They fly in the face of everything we believe in. However, the actions, or inactions, of a few, which must be faced up to and dealt with, must not be distorted. The fact is that every day for the past 100-plus years tens of thousands of volunteer leaders, assisted by a small but professional staff, have delivered the very best of scouting programmes to hundreds of thousands of young people across our country.
I am proud to have grown up within the scout movement and proud still to be a member. I deeply regret the issues surrounding the recent bad publicity, but I know that scouting can and will work our way through these matters. Millions of young people across the world have benefited from the scouting programme and millions more have still to have that opportunity. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT LACEY,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.