Madam, - Your editorial of February 10th was welcome indeed, as was the unconditional apology of Kevin Myers. Last Tuesday's Irishman's Diary was a shameful lapse for your highly regarded newspaper. Yes, as your editorial stated, Irish society has changed radically, and in matters of family and social policy positively in recent years. For those of us who played an active role in that change Kevin Myers's provocative article was particularly sad.
In 1986, as minister for state in the department of justice, I had responsibility for researching, drafting and introducing to the Oireachtas the Status of Children 1987 Act, which ended the concept of illegitimacy, and extended rights and social entitlements to all children equally.
Difficult as the 1980s were for radical legal reform, with the widest possible consultation, and great drafting care, that legislation was steered into place, and I feel it has stood the test of time. Inherent throughout our work was a determination that there would be no legal distinction between children born of or outside marriage. All terms and labels, whether non-marital, illegitimate, bye-child (as used by late John Healy, Backbencher) or the term used by Kevin Myers, were to be abolished forever.
The commitment to this principle meant that I withdrew the Bill from second-stage Senate debate to substantially amend it, and resubmitted it. To this end senators were enormously supportive, particularly lawyers Mary Robinson and Catherine McGuinness both of whom played a valuable and practical role.
One effect of the debate and the public comment around the time of the legislation was a resolve in newspapers and radio/TV not to tolerate offensive labels for these children. Until last week that resolve held. Any subject can be debated or discussed without using offensive and stigmatising terms. They are, as your paper has discovered, totally unacceptable. - Yours, etc.,
NUALA FENNELL, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Yet again we have an example of a journalist seeming to commit professional hari kiri in an attempt to make a controversial point. Kevin Myers has initiated a storm of protest, accompanied by enough tears, hysterics and breast-beating to make Oprah Winfrey blush.
It is a pity that by his use of an ancient but undoubtedly pejorative term Mr Myers has sabotaged his own very valid argument. It is ironic that both Mr Myers and his detractors are in agreement that one-parent families are more likely to find themselves in a position of disadvantage financially and socially. It is generally accepted that children are better off with the emotional support of a stable, two-parent family. So, who bears the greater portion of guilt, a journalist who recklessly uses an emotive word the better to make his point, or a government and society who irresponsibly continue to encourage young women down the cul de sac of lone parenthood?
How strange that those who are howling loudly for the head of Mr Myers claim to be doing so in the name of these very children. It seems that we have entered an Orwellian age in Ireland. We now believe that if certain words are forbidden the facts which those words describe will disappear. This strikes me as similar to a belief in magic. Sadly, while this hypocrisy goes on, the very real and vulnerable children who are the victims of misguided government policies continue to be forgotten. - Yours, etc.,
SUZANNE WALSH, Ratoath, Co Meath.
Madam, - It strikes me that the Irish love nothing more than a good hanging. There are a great number of forums where the public can discuss, react and vent their fury in these cases and that is indeed as it should be. But do Mr Myers' assertions and choice of words really warrant the level of abuse we have witnessed?
A full and contrite apology has been published but the torrent is barely abated. Should a journalist not have the freedom to express views, however controversial they might be, without fear of being deprived of his/her livelihood?
One cannot help detecting a level of smug satisfaction from others who share Mr Myers' profession. Perhaps some with whom he might have crossed swords in the past see in his current predicament an opportunity to strike. This letter is not written to justify remarks made by Mr. Myers, but merely to wonder at the possibility that some sense of perspective may have been lost somewhere along the line.
No crime has been committed here and it should be remembered that worse things are happening on this island every single day and in every walk of life. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL O'TOOLE, Kilkenny.