Sir, - So Mr O'Flaherty has done the dignified thing and withdrawn - even though the problem was never Mr O'Flaherty himself. The main issue is that at a time when corruption in public life is so regularly in the news, we want to see that current politics is cleaner than clean and any decisions made are unquestionable.
It says a lot, then, about Bertie, Mary and Charlie (See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil), that none of them could face the will of the people and do the decent thing themselves. Instead, they left Mr O'Flaherty and his family to take some of the heat.
I think calls for resignations are taking things too far, but a few words of apology to both the public and Mr O'Flaherty would not go amiss and might even generate some badly needed good will for the politicians concerned.
Unfortunately, given the arrogance of those involved, this is unlikely to happen. - Yours etc.,
Garry Clarke, Spricklestown, The Ward, Co Dublin.