A chara, - It appears from your Editorial on the letter of the Irish Catholic bishops, "Living with Dying" (October 8th), that you do not accept the "principle of double effect". This is quite extraordinary. You are living with it every moment - not just "double effect", but "multiple effect".
You quote the bishops on dealing with pain-management, and you comment: "To those who do not accept this principle, the knowing administration of life-shortening drugs is tantamount to killing and may form part of the class of acts that they define as euthanasia." Just one of the effects of producing and distributing your newspaper is that, to some extent, you contribute to the production of greenhouse gases through your use of energy in the production lines. So you may as well have written: "The knowing production of The Irish Times is tantamount to endangering the fragile ecology of our planet, and may form part of the class of acts that they define as crimes against humanity." Would you add, as you do in your editorial: "For many civilised people such acts, so defined, are humane and moral"?
Your action in increasing the price of your newspaper from €1.30 to €1.40 (not exactly the equivalent of 75p sterling) has the added effect of impoverishing your readers in the Republic by 10 cent per day and of adding to inflation. Every action we take is subject to the principle of multiple effects. You will have to come up with a more reasonable criticism of what the bishops write, if you are to be taken seriously.
I myself am not always happy with statements from bishops, but please do give them credit for some common sense and honesty. Even the use of a spade is affected by the principle of multiple effect. As you conclude in your Editorial: "It is surely time the issue was faced squarely." - Yours, etc.,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY, The Presbytery, Avoca, Co Wicklow.