A chara, – Hours before Irish Water begins charging for our use of water, and harvesting PPS numbers from people in what looks a shabby operation, I read that “Minister hires Irish Water director as his personal driver” (Front Page, September 30th).
Political reform, promised and promised again, is a joke. – Is mise,
C MURRAY,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole ("Does appointment of McNulty to board of Imma meet seven principles of public office?", Opinion & Analysis, September 30th) has very ably deconstructed the McNulty senatorial saga and I am glad that he has made reference to the seven principles of public life set out by the UK Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Interestingly, these seven principles are enshrined in article 1.5 of the ministerial code of the Northern Ireland Executive. This means that in six counties of the island of Ireland at least, one can expect Ministers to act in accordance with standards in public life that most of us would see as the very minimum we can expect from our public servants.
The Taoiseach has “taken responsibility for this having evolved to what people might imagine it is”. This ridiculous and self-serving non-apology is an insult to Irish voters. I do not doubt John McNulty’s integrity, but the manner of his appointment to the Imma board was simply disgraceful as a matter of fact and not as a matter of my “imagining”.
It is interesting now that Irish people living in the six counties, in which power was so abused in recent memory, can expect from their public officials, as a matter of law, a greater standard of accountability and ethical standards than their compatriots living across the Border. – Yours, etc,
FERGAL QUINN
London.