Madam, – I am extremely disappointed that Ireland withdrew from the United Nations conference on racism when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke (World News, April 21st).
Irish delegates should defend to the hilt everybody’s right to speak freely – whether that speech is acceptable to our way of thinking or not – because freedom of speech is so critically important to our society. By refusing to listen to Mr Ahmadinejad we confirm that it is acceptable that he would refuse to listen to us. – Yours, etc,