Madam, - I have lost count of the number of times, during a succession of Government crises, that we have been exhorted by spokesmen as well as writers "to move on". This advice seems to have become the panacea for the political and moral dilemmas of our island. "It really is time to move on," trumpets David Carroll, apologist for the Taoiseach (September 18th). Where are we going to? It is about time we asked.
We have entertained high hopes of democracy; but democracy, today, seems to mean the fooling of the people by a Taoiseach for whom a code of conduct in public office is only for others. We simply cannot "move on", hoping for glad, confident morning, until we get satisfactory answers to the questions of when, where and how monies were received by the Taoiseach. - Yours, etc,
JOHN F FALLON, Boyle, Co Roscommon.
Madam, - Dr Desmond Fennell's call (September 25th) for a law preventing the elected head of government being treated "in a defamatory manner by a public tribunal" comes, alas, too late for the likes of the late Charles J Haughey. But at least Charlie's legacy is still alive: the yacht, the private island and the culture of denial and amnesia when it comes to explaining large cash donations/loans/lodgments.
Perhaps the Fennell Law could be made retrospective? - Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'BYRNE, Shandon Crescent, Phibsborough, Dublin 7.
Madam, - The Taoiseach requested us at the weekend to read the entire transcript of his evidence at the tribunal before forming an opinion about its merits. I tried to read as much as I could of it in The Irish Times last week. However after wading through a number of his replies I found myself utterly defeated by the garbled syntax, structureless ramblings and sentences that began and ended with no apparent purpose. If Mr Ahern won't or can't express himself in clear, concise language, how can we possibly follow his advice? - Yours etc,
JAKE WALSH, Walshestown, Clogherhead, Co Louth.
Madam, - I find it hard to believe that Bertie cannot recollect driving Celia Larkin down to the AIB in O'Connell Street and waiting for her.
Surely anyone who found a parking space in O'Connell Street, even in the mid-1990s, would remember it. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CASSERLY, Abbeybridge, Waterfall, Co Cork.
Madam, - It has just been reported that Ehud Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, is to face a criminal investigation into his purchase of a property. The investigation was triggered when a government watchdog concluded that Mr Olmert had bought the property at well below market value.
In Israel, as in most Western democracies, where there is strong suspicion of political corruption police involvement is immediate. If sufficient evidence is revealed there is immediate court involvement. If a politician is found guilty there is immediate accountability.
In Ireland, no government watchdog has ever begun a criminal investigation against a politician. The Irish police do not investigate allegations of political corruption.
Instead of immediate accountability, Irish politicians and officials simply turn up at very expensive - and, for the most part, ineffective - tribunals to inform the nation that they are suffering from amnesia.
There is not the remotest possibility that our Taoiseach will face an investigation that would make him immediately accountable despite failing to provide satisfactory answers to the many serious questions regarding his acceptance of large amounts of cash.
Recent polls and elections confirm that the majority of Irish citizens are very happy with this state of affairs and apparently have no worries about the serious consequences that inevitably follow when low standards in high places become the norm. - Yours, etc,
ANTHONY SHERIDAN, Carraig Eoin, Cobh, Co Cork.
Madam, - I cannot understand why so much fuss is being made of Bertie Ahern's inability to remember clearly the minutiae of his personal finances 10 to 15 years ago. I cannot remember such details, and I'd be surprised if many people can.
However, I can recall the Arms Crisis and the media's failure to make any fuss when taoiseach Jack Lynch explained his failure to act against Haughey and Blaney by saying that he "forgot", and fairly promptly it seems, that he had been informed that these two government ministers were suspected of smuggling guns into the country. He had his memory refreshed some time later by Liam Cosgrave.
Seems to me a bit like fish of one, and flesh of the other. - Yours, etc,
JOHN LARKIN, Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Madam, - As someone who was born and reared in a small village in a county bordering John Waters's native county, and whose grandparents subscribed to the founding of the Irish Press in the 1930s, I am not a member of what Mr Waters reviles as "the urban middle classes" with a "prejudice about Fianna Fáil" (Opinion, September 24th).
I do, however, recognise that the Taoiseach, who has wielded enormous power on behalf of all of us for the best part of 20 years, should be accountable for his actions when wielding this power. He is not, as John Waters would have it, like "most of us".
I also agree that tribunals set up by the elected representatives of the Irish people should not be, as alleged by Mr Waters, "in outrageous breach of the most fundamental principles of justice and jurisprudence". If they are, they should be shut down forthwith by the same elected representatives of the Irish people who set them up. If John Waters is right, therefore, we should expect a motion to terminate the actions of the tribunals to be proposed and passed as the Dáil reassembles.
If, contrary to John Waters's contention, the Dáil does not "mothball" the tribunals, they would seem still to have the approval of the Oireachtas. On the one hand, therefore, they may have the capacity to continue to "regurgitate middle-class prejudice in the form of hypocrisy and spite". On the other hand, they may merely be asking those in power to account for their actions, on behalf of the rest of us who have neither the power of politicians nor the influence of journalists. - Yours, etc,
A LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.
Madam, - May I please point out to John Waters that I am not a member of either the journalistic or legal professions? I am one of the thousands of ordinary taxpayers of this country who fund the tribunals that Mr Waters appears to despise. I can assure him that those of us not members of the journalistic or legal professions do not all sing from the same hymn-sheet. And I take great offence that he should take it upon himself to speak on our behalf.
I support the tribunals. Call me idealistic, but I would like to know if the person charged with running this country is trustworthy and whether or not he is open to accepting money by illicit means.
Furthermore, I find it highly offensive that Mr Waters should equate the actions of Mr Ahern with the thousands of ordinary people who struggle to make it through from one pay cheque to the next. Part of the reason that there is such a high level of indebtedness is because of soaring house prices - something Mr Ahern has done little to address in his period in office for fear of upsetting his chums in the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway races.
I suggest that Mr Waters may be the one suffering from elitist myopia. - Yours, etc,
CORMAC O'BRIEN, Deerpark East, Cork.
Madam, - I have often questioned the reasoning behind my desire, no matter where I might be, to obtain and read The Irish Times as I am often infuriated by your journalists. But the reason why I have to have my daily dose hit me right on the button last Monday when I read John Waters's column, "Time to mothball the wigs".
His reference to the legal profession "getting an erection, or its equivalent, by dint of mere proximity to a bank" was brilliant - worthy of Brendan Behan at his cynical best. Many thanks. - Yours, etc,
PHILIP TOBIN, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.