Sir, - You report (May 25th) that the PD TDs and Senators were nearly unanimous in the view that Mary Harney made an error of judgment in not vetoing the nomination of a judge for a banker's job.
If the agreed position of the parliamentary party is "that this would not have been an appointment that we would have made ourselves", what sense does it make for the TDs then to support that injudicious decision in a Dail vote? Would it not have made more sense, if one wanted to avoid a "perception of cronyism" and to promote higher standards, to have followed the example of Mildred Fox and at least abstain?
Given Fianna Fail's proposal of this nomination and their reneging on their election promise of a referendum on PfP, and the PDs equivocation on standards, the electorate must surely view with some scepticism the tribunals-inspired proposal to fund the political parties from the public purse. - Yours, etc.,
F.X. O'Brien, Forster Street, Galway.