Madam, - Noel Whelan (Opinion and Analysis, February 2nd) describes as a "non-story" the revelation that the most powerful politician in the land fast-tracked a passport application for a businessman who was endeavouring to get Government permission to set up a casino in the Phoenix Park.
A government TD described the raising of this issue as a "synthetic pseudo-ethical furore". Another government TD said the behaviour of people who attempted to make this information available to the rest of us was "the lowest of the low".
That follows the recent outburst by an influential government politician, describing criticism of the Taoiseach as "treachery towards one's country" and an "act of treason".
My grandparents subscribed to the setting up of the Irish Press and I am not a member of any political party. My opinion is, however, that all these protestations are doing is displaying an ignorance, by people who are in positions of power and influence, of the fact that in a functioning democracy all of us are free to criticise those who hold power on our behalf.
We are also entitled to know what powerful politicians get up to when exercising that power on our behalf in high government office.
Eighty-six years after its foundation we obviously need to keep reminding ourselves that this is still a democratic republic and not a one-party state. - Yours, etc,
A. LEAVY,
Shielmartin Drive,
Dublin 13.