Sir, - I, and very many others, know next to nothing about Adi Roche, and want to know more. We are entitled to know. To ask questions about her is not to insinuate anything. So:
1. Does she receive any money for her charitable work, this being her main claim to fame, whether pay, or expenses, or both?
2. What other work has she done: every job held since leaving school with dates, please. What education did she receive and how well did she do?
3. What political views has she put forward on her own behalf, or on behalf of CND?
4. Are the accounts of her charity available to the public?
Her adherents seem rather sensitive. So I must say that these questions must not be misinterpreted as making any assertions whatsoever. Question 1 is simply a request for reassurance. There is all the difference in the world between being an executive paid to be charitable and the volunteer who truly gives of time, self and substance.
Question 2 asks for disclosure of experience. We all have to do this in seeking employment, and the top job in the land should be no exception. Gaps should be accounted for. Most people, myself included, know little about Irish CND. CND in England has changed somewhat from the mass movement of the 1950s and 1960s, to which any caring person could properly adhere. Question 3, therefore, simply asks for information. Question 4 lends itself to wilful misunderstanding. There is no suggestion of irregularity; it is just that one can evaluate much of an enterprise - its volume, efficiency and so on - through its accounts. - Yours, etc.,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.