Farewell Champ, truly the greatest fighter of all time

‘Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee’ – the words of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who has sadly passed away at 74.

Ali will live on for eternity in boxing’s hall of fame as the greatest boxing entertainer of all time. He was not only a fantastic fighter but also a true humanitarian who refused to be drafted into the Vietnam war on his beliefs.

Farewell Champ – and thanks for all the pleasure you gave us. Smokin’ Joe Frazier will be there to greet you and welcome you into boxing heaven. Ring the bell, the champ has come home. Anthony Woods, Ennis, Co. Clare.

Seanad shame

Unfortunately, it is not just Enda Kenny’s appointment of Billy Lawless to the Seanad that has brought further reputational damage to the integrity of the Oireachtas (Mos, May 29).

Mr Kenny also elevated Michelle Mulherin, the former Fine Gael TD who had been rejected by the electorate in the recent general election. These nominations to the Seanad have brought further shame and ridicule on our legislature and have reduced our national parliament to junk status.

It emerged that Ms Mulherin had made mobile phone calls to Kenya between 2011 and 2013 at a considerable cost to the taxpayer.

Despite initial claims that these calls formed part of her parliamentary duties, Ms Mulherin repaid the cost to the State, which amounted to €3,295.

These abuses cannot be measured in monetary terms alone. The true price we pay is the further erosion of what moral integrity the Oireachtas has left. We have tolerated for far too long in this country politics without principles. Tom Cooper, Templeogue, Dublin 6W.

Funding welfare

I was interested to read of Kevin Stokes receiving €77,400 in social welfare payments for his family of 13 (MoS, May 29).

This is money that comes out of the pockets of hard-working citizens. There is something seriously wrong in a state where a person who works all their lives and loses their job gets the same welfare as a person who has never worked a day in their life.

The runaway train coming down the tracks is the State’s ability to afford its generous social welfare system.

Tommy Deenihan, Co. Cork.

Garda reform

It will be a long time before any concerned Garda makes a complaint, such is the incompetence of the handling of the Sergeant Maurice McCabe situation.

If you want a decent Garda service for the future, we should retire the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and all the assistant commissioners and appoint former Gsoc chief Simon O’Brien as the new commissioner, answerable only the Taoiseach.

John Fair, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.

Bomb confession

I agree with calls for the perpetrators of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombing to give themselves up. They should do this not only for the sake of the 21 innocent people murdered in cold blood and the scores injured and maimed, but also for the six men unjustly convicted of the crime. Crooked police framed those men but the bombers added to the miscarriage of justice by allowing the Birmingham Six to languish in prison for a crime they had nothing to do with.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, the bombers would serve only a fraction of the prison term endured by the Birmingham Six but drawing a line under this crime would help bring closure for the victims, their loved ones and the six Irish men subjected to a living hell of wrongful imprisonment. John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.

Torn from family

Sheila Flynn’s story (Mos, May 29) about the eight-year-old boy torn away from his devoted grandparents and loving family, was tragic. How any person or organisation could say this is in a child’s best interest is beyond understanding.

Every person over 60 years, should object to this unacceptable act. Margaret Walsh, Clonsilla Road, Dublin 15.

Soccer cheats

Roy Keane’s comments are usually entertaining and thoughtprovoking and his suggestion earlier this week that soccer is ‘a man’s game’ was no different.

While the great man from Cork liked to play the game hard and fair and did not believe in lying down, looking for frees and sympathy from referees, it is a great pity to still see so many top players indulging in cheating.

The recent Champions League final sadly was polluted with such unsporting antics – in contrast to the Connacht v Leinster rugby decider earlier that evening in which a number of participants took hard knocks before getting up and continuing without any crying.

Noel Coogan, Navan, Co. Meath.