Sir, - It is bad enough that Adi Roche (the bather in the rainbow) bears more than a passing resemblance to P.G. Wodehouse's Madeline Bassett (who thought the stars were God's daisy chain).
Then, at the launch of her campaign, Mary McAleese, said: "In Ireland, there are no strangers, only friends who have not yet met." This sounds as if the script came from an Irish linen tea towel.
Surely we deserve better than these banalities/ insincerities. Let us move from the world of Darby O'Gill and have the honest-to-God debates Mary Banotti is calling for. Remember, we will be listening to the winner for the next seven years. - Yours, etc.,
Earlsfort Court, Dublin 2.