Sir, - It was with acute disappointment that I learned of the debacle involving Conor O'Clery's planned trip to Tibet with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. We will all be the less for this suppression of his work.
I fully appreciate that Mary Robinson is walking on eggshells during her visit to China. And there is no doubt that a trip to Tibet is in itself a good thing, bringing the media spotlight to bear on a country that has been annexed by a powerful neighbour. I remain confident that she will have the courage, as she did when she visited Rwanda, to speak out against a government which persists in flouting the most basic of human rights, not least of which is the blatant restriction of the freedom of the press. - Yours, etc., John O'Shea,
Director, Goal, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.