Institutions rely on more than public tolerance

Sir,- Fintan O’Toole’s reflection on Archbishop Desmond Connell’s use of “mental reservation” (“Britain’s King Charles should heed the lesson of the crumbling Irish Catholic Church,” Opinion, February 24th) highlights a recurring institutional response when wrongdoing emerges.

O’Toole suggests that systems ultimately falter when citizens’ self-respect can no longer sustain inherited deference. Yet reliance on public tolerance is not a governance model. Durable institutions are not preserved by waiting for deference to collapse, but by embedding oversight from the outset.

In democracies, accountability must be structural rather than conditional. When scrutiny appears selective, trust erodes and authority weakens. Institutions may endure organisationally, but survival without credibility risks continuity without legitimacy.

The question is why this lesson remains so difficult to apply when openness and oversight offer a more stable foundation for public confidence. - Yours, etc,