Bertie has forgotten all the lives he’s ruined
BRENDA Power’s headline says it all (‘He lied on oath about his hidden riches, and ran away when asked about it: and he wants to be President Bertie!’, Irish Daily Mail, yesterday).
He wants to get on with life. Oh, it would be great if most of our children could do likewise.
They’re caught with huge mortgages, negative equity, chaotic households where both parents must work past retiring age to pay-off their mortgages.
Isn’t it great for Bertie that he has choices? He left a legacy of grief and hard work for the taxpayers. MARGARET HOPKINS,
by email. …BERTIE Ahern knows only too well that the Mahon Tribunal is the nail on his political coffin.
The Irish people hate being taken for fools as Bertie tried to convince them that he won vast amounts of monies on the horses. Now Bertie thinks the time is right to put his name forward for President of Ireland.
After all, doing the rounds on Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement is, for him, a lap of honour for his political achievements. The late Charles J. Haughey said of Bertie that he was ‘the most cunning and devious of them all’.
Charlie’s insight into Bertie was prophetic.
His German TV interview with Tim Sebastian was not a happy experience for Bertie. He walked away looking extremely flustered.
Bertie hates confrontation. He handled the trade unions well by giving them what they wanted when he was taoiseach.
Not a man to handle confrontation. More a fixer than anything else, and he certainly ‘fixed’ a lot of things for a lot of people. Bertie hopes and prays that the electorate at large have amnesia regarding the verdict of the Mahon Tribunal. But I doubt very much that they have forgotten Bertie’s political legacy.
Will Bertie run for President? Not a hope.
All he is trying to do is clear his character, and by appearing to have his eye on the Áras, is showing only that he feels his character remains unblemished, and that is his priority.
Columnist Brenda Power summed Bertie up well in her article regarding him doing a runner on the Sebastian interview (Irish Daily Mail, yesterday). Hopefully, he will stay running.
THOMAS O’REILLY, by email.
Don’t trust all doctors
REGARDING the Eighth Amendment, the argument that ‘it’s between a woman and her doctor’ causes concern.
In his autobiography, David Owen, a former British cabinet minister and a medical doctor, admitted to coaching patients in difficult social circumstances to say they were suicidal to get an abortion, as British doctors in the 1960s would not perform abortions on social grounds.
More recently, the Daily Telegraph reported that mothers who went to an abortion clinic never seen a doctor, and pre-signed doctor consent forms were used. Doctors campaigning for a Yes vote are saying abortion is already happening here with online pills, but that is no reason to kill an unborn baby. In countries that legalised abortion, abortifacients are still being ordered online.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (a former doctor) said ‘abortion should be safe, legal and rare’. In countries that have legalised abortion, it has been far from rare.
Voters must listen to doctors such as John Monaghan, Doctors for Life and the many GPs who are now defending the Eighth amendment, who don’t offer false compassion and are defending the principles of the Hippocratic oath. We can’t trust all doctors.
ANN CAMPBELL, Scotstown, Co. Monaghan.
Attention-seeking
WHY do celebrities feel the need to rush to put their feelings on social media when they hear of the death of a well-known person?
It is beyond bad manners. Why can’t they just send the family a card or letter, or make a phone call to convey their sympathy?
But it’s nothing to do with the deceased, it’s all about getting a slice of publicity for themselves.
PAT STEWART, Kent.