Madam, - Two issues had come to the fore in the days before President McAleese represented this country at the Auschwitz commemoration ceremony. One was the opportunity for some kind of expression of regret that the then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, should have seen fit to commiserate with the German ambassador on the death of Adolf Hitler.
The second concerned the country's record in relation to the beleaguered European Jews who were badly in need of sympathy and practical support. In this respect the Government of the day, by all accounts, fared poorly. Should this have now been publicly acknowledged - and was it legitimately the role of the President to undertake to do so?
When Mrs McAleese complied with the request from RTÉ to be interviewed for Morning Ireland she should have been fully aware that these two contentious issues would have been put to her. It would seem to make sense that she should have gone on air well equipped to make an adequate and satisfactory response. Indeed, given the delicacy of Mr de Valera's gesture, some consultation with the Government would surely have been in order and thus the way could have been paved to excise a particularly painful memory.
In the event, however, due to ill-preparedness, the radio interview took on a far different hue. Its tenor clearly conveyed a distinct unease on the part of the President as to how she was going to deal satisfactorily with the two contentious issues. As a consequence of the interview then becoming somewhat unfocused, it strayed into uncharted territory, with unfortunate repercussions.
Thankfully, amends have been made - but really it didn't have to happen.
And the price of being careless and unthinking is that one of Ireland's extremely rare historical acts of ineptitude remains unshriven. - Yours, etc.,
DES CRYAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
A Chara, - I read with amazement your Editorial of January 31st, "Actions louder than words", in which the UDA, a paramilitary loyalist group involved in drug-dealing, extortion, prostitution and sectarian violence up to and including murder, was described as being among the "peacemakers and bridge-builders".
Can it be that your description of President McAleese's words as "ill-timed, erroneous and unfortunate" would be more applicable to this description of the largest paramilitary terrorist association north of the Border?
Given that your newspaper condemns Sinn Féin over the IRA's alleged criminality, shouldn't you be more circumspect in relation to your praise of gangs of proven criminality and violence? I have no doubt that victims of UDA violence and criminality will be dismayed to see these murdering thugs called "peacemakers". - Is mise,
CONCUBHAR Ó LIATHÁIN, Béal Feirste.
Madam, - It was very statesmanlike for President McAleese to apologise for the few clumsy words in her interview. I hope the Protestant/unionist community and those sensitive souls in the Orange Order are now mollified.
Can we now expect them to reciprocate with an action which up to now has been conspicuous by its absence - their acknowledgment of, and apologies for, their part in the 50-year vicious suppression of the minority community? - Yours, etc.,
Paul MacCARTHY, Ballyroan Heights, Dublin 16.
Madam, - I take President McAleese's apology and amplification of her radio interview at face value. But I ask her to do one more thing : to make teaching children about hate a conspicuous theme of her second term.
One way would be to popularise as an anti-hate anthem the wonderful song from South Pacific, "You've got to be taught". She could ask that it be sung at every school, youth club and other similar visit that she makes.
Some excerpts from the song illustrate the appropriateness of this suggestion: "You've got to be taught - before it's too late,/ Before you are six or seven or eight,/ To hate all the people your relatives hate; you've got to be carefully taught.
"You've got to be taught to be afraid/ Of people whose eyes are oddly made,/ Of people whose skin is a different shade; you've got to be carefully taught." - Yours, etc.
DAVE WILSON, Merrion Road, Dublin 4.