Sir, - Fintan O'Toole refers (Opinion, December 27th) to the "disgraced former Supreme Court Judge, Hugh O'Flaherty" and asks how his proposed appointment to the European Investment Bank could "ignite a firestorm of public rage".
The answer is evident in your Editorial of the same edition, which could have been written by the same journalist. After referring to "a succession of revelations involving gross political corruption and patent dereliction of duty", you name Charles Haughey, Michael Lowry, Frank Dunlop, George Redmond and Liam Lawlor. The next paragraph begins with a reference to Mr Hugh O'Flaherty. Thus the names of people associated with dubious financial dealings are combined with the name of a man never alleged to have taken or given any dishonest money.
Disgrace does not apply to a person who told the media pack at his gate that he had done nothing wrong and who has never been accused of any crime. At the most, he may have erred in taking a personal, if also humane, interest in a prisoner's sentence. He could also, of course, have fought any threatened or implied impeachment but chose instead to sacrifice his personally justifiable position in order to protect the judiciary as a whole from even "a scintilla of suspicion".
Hugh O'Flaherty was a successful barrister for some 30 years until he became a judge and, it is widely believed, took a decrease in income by doing so. He was a respected member of the legal profession which was able to expose the Cayman Islands clique and other major scandals, thus giving some hope for the body politic in years to come. Although some politicians and journalists continue to grumble about the cost of tribunals, the total cost may well be less than 1 per cent of the annual Exchequer budget - cheap when tackling real disgrace.
In juxtaposing Hugh O'Flaherty's name with those of allegedly corrupt politicians and officials, you continue to impute to him an element of guilt by association and, of course, to lower his standing in public opinion. One must ask why. When the question is finally answered, the only disgrace in this case may be yours. "Filleann feall ar an bhfeallaire." - Is mise, Eoghan O Suilleabhain,
Ascal Achadh Fea, Baile Ath Cliath 15.