A Chara, - The latest attempt to embroil the President in a so-called controversy over whether she should attend a prize-giving ceremony or an Irish language course bears all the markings of a continued bitterness in some sections of the media that the Irish people did not elect a Mary Robinson Mark II.
In my opinion, the value and the symbolic importance of the President fulfilling that particular campaign pledge which I distinctly remember her making, and for which I applauded her, are far superior to the alternative of attending the RDS ceremony. The fact that previous incumbents might have preferred the photo-opportunity is not something for which President McAleese should be castigated. - Is mise, David Carroll,
Sydney, Australia.