Sir, – No wonder our nation State is in such a perilous position when all the Dáil can do is to debate cheap village political tittle-tattle. Even worse is the amount of headline news time this topic is taking up in the media. What the people of this country wish our politicians and commentators to concentrate on is jobs, the health-care system, fighting crime, the economy, promoting growth and exports – and even legislation to stop women dying in childbirth.
Two of my three children are working abroad; despite first class degrees from Trinity and Cambridge they are unable to find work here. In the case of my son, one public service department didn’t even do him the courtesy of an acknowledgment to a job application!
I say to all members of the Dáil get on with the real issues that concern the electorate and stop this nonsense. – Yours, etc,
JOHN TURNER,
Kilteragh Road, Dublin 18.
Sir, – The real scandal in this controversy is not the fact that Alan Shatter disclosed that Mick Wallace had been cautioned by a garda. The only one damaged by that revelation is Mr Shatter himself.
The really scary thing is that the Minister knew of it. He says that the information was given to him by the Garda Commissioner. There are three possible explanations for how that information came into the possession of the commissioner. 1. The commissioner is routinely informed of every conversation any garda in the country has with any citizen. Most unlikely! 2. Before the debate, there was a trawl of all gardaí to see if there was any dirt that could be used against Deputy Wallace. Possible! 3. There is a standing procedure that every Garda contact with a politician is reported to the Commissioner/Minister. Equally possible!
Whichever is the case it calls to mind the Stasi, the Gestapo or the KGB. – Yours, etc,
JOE CUNNANE,
Herbert Road,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – It is most important that we know the failings and foibles of the members of the Oireachtas. These public representatives are making the laws by which we individuals must abide. If we cannot judge their integrity how can we judge the integrity of their decisions? In an ideal world, Alan Shatter TD should not have said it – but neither should he have had to! – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH E MASON
Merrion Court,
Montenotte, Cork.
Sir, – Frank Hannon makes an interesting point (May 22nd): the strategy of ministers obtaining and disclosing information about fellow politicians may indeed leave us with a Dáil filled with only the most virtuous of Irish society. However, I fear this may not necessarily be a good thing. As Einstein once remarked, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Yours, etc,
MICK McMULLIN,
Granville Road,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – In another lifetime, before them new-fangled computers, I was for a short time, responsible for writing to the Motor Tax Office to get the details of those issued with tickets by the meter men and meter maids. Because of continual backlogs, most tickets were cancelled by the simple expedient of drawing lines through pages and pages of entries. Flicking forward in the books, it was, however, not uncommon to see individual tickets with neat diagonal lines drawn through them. Very often the names would be those of well-known people.
Being ever of a contrary disposition, and knowing that the process was unstoppable once an address was sought from the Motor Tax Office, I often amused myself by skipping forward in the books in search of entries for the great and the good, so as to expedite their cases.
Was that reverse discretion? Does it make me a bad person – a failed Irishman, even? – Yours, etc,
TIM O’HALLORAN,
Ferndale Road,
Dublin 11.