Sir, - President McAleese is criticised for not wearing a poppy, yet nobody mentions that President Bush was poppy-free on US Veteran's Day (also November 11th). Here in Belgium no-one wears a poppy, and in war-ravaged France and Germany they are not to be seen either. So why should anyone expect the President of Ireland to wear one?
The poppy is the symbol of a British charity (the Royal British Legion), which has been elevated, by the BBC among others, into a de facto British state symbol. It is not an international symbol, even among the countries which fought in the World Wars.
Let those who are British, or would like to be, wear their poppies with pride, but please recognise it for what it is, a British symbol.
President McAleese was right. - Yours, etc.,
Ian Livingstone, Hoeilaart, Belgium.