Funeral protocol is questionable
Thursday January 08 2009
No doubt this was, from their point of view, a very proper thing to do.
However only a few weeks ago, none of those gentlemen turned up at the funeral of the late government minister Conor Cruise O'Brien.
Now I do not know what the protocol is, but I would assume that an ex-minister would be of a higher pecking order than a TD, however popular the latter may have been.
Mr Gregory was no doubt a fine representative, but I would argue that the late Mr O'Brien helped to shape our thinking more than anyone else -- witness now our attitude to the North from the irredentist policy of the late assassinated Seamus Costello of whom Mr Gregory was a follower, with the starry plough draping his coffin.
The principle of consent is now accepted by all, including Sinn Fein.
So the non-party political office of Taoiseach is being used in a partisan manner.
BRENDAN CAFFERTY
BALLINA, MAYO
