Sir, - I refer to the article "Hopes of council seat take a setback" (The Irish Times, March 15th) and would like to point out that Italy has never laid claim to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
In the framework of the current process for the reform of the council, Italy, which is the fifth greatest contributor to the United Nations' budget, proposed the establishment of a new category of seats reserved, on a more frequent rotation, for those countries which contribute in the greatest part to the budget and to the running of the organisation or - as an alternative - an increase in the number of non-permanent seats.
Italy has been requesting Ireland's support of both these proposals for some time now. - Yours, etc., Ferdinando Zezza,
Italian Ambassador to Ireland, Dublin.