I AM writing with regard to your article 'Harry auditions take parents for Muggles' by Una Mullally last Sunday.

The article, which mentioned that the first Irish girl at the auditions was one Sinead Creaner, was in fact incorrect.

As a mother muggle and her daughter who flew into London on Friday 13th (yes unlucky for some) and joined the queue at Storey's gate at approximately 2am, my daughter Megan was the first Irish girl in the queue. When we arrived, the queue consisted of Kim Allen (first girl there), her two friends Taisa (who wasn't auditioning), Mary, and a girl called Alice from Chester with her mum Shirley. After we joined, another girl, Stephanie, and her mother from Essex joined in. This was the main group until around 5am when others began to trickle through.

The group of first girls were subsequently interviewed by Reuters, Sky and numerous journalists at 8am and as soon as the doors opened were heralded inside at around 9am.

Unfortunately for them, the majority of journalists arrived after this and information being fed through was a little sketchy.

As you can imagine my daughter was disappointed to note that someone else was credited with being the first Irish girl there, after spending the night huddled in a doorway.

Not normally an 'overfussy' mother, I felt I had to point this out on my daughter's behalf.

Sheila Jackson sjackson@iol. ie

Babysitting at Radisson is tops

I WRITE to you with shock and disappointment. Shock at your recent sensational front page headline "Hotel babysitting services 'wide open' to abuse by paedophiles" and the misleading "Hotels expose children to abuse risk" on page 4. Disappointment at the amateurish tones of the article and the clear lack of comprehensive research which is unworthy of a national publication as prolific as yours.

To accompany this article with a photograph of the Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel is misleading and an abomination.

I do agree that this is a most serious and pertinent issue, which must be acknowledged and addressed by our industry.

We have responsibility for total diligence.

Surely Ms McInerney should have equal respect for this issue.

Would it not be more appropriate for Ms McInerney to speak directly with the appropriate managers responsible to ensure a clear and true account would be given.

To clarify, our policy at The Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel has strict guidelines in place for the employment of babysitters.

As reported Jenny Roche was instructed (by the Hall Porter) to send in her CV and that her name would be placed on a list. A list of hundreds of CVs which we receive on a weekly basis.

CVs are passed to our Human Resources department who decide whether to interview a candidate or not.

Once an applicant has had their interview, all references are then checked rigorously.

It is highly unlikely that Jenny Roche would have been called for interview, as we do not actively recruit babysitters.

I am General Manager of the Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel but I am first and foremost a father.

I leave my child in the care of our babysitters confident in the knowledge of her safety.

The Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel is a family friendly hotel where we pride ourselves on the quality, services and facilities that we provide.

It is essential and is your responsibility that a report of this nature is accurate and thorough as the potential damage to the reputation of my team, to our business, and to tourism in Ireland is infinite.

Neil Lane, Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Dublin 4.

Peter is stringing us along

UNA MULLALLY last Sunday went to Stringfellows in London armed with an "internal feminist rant" and "a string of preconceptions". She quickly, and, it would appear, cheaply, changed her opinion of Stringfellows however.

All it cost Peter Stringfellow was a dinner, an in-house masseuse "doing her thing" on Una's neck and shoulders and a bit of silver-tongued conversation to convince the innocent Una that Stringfellow is "such a decent bloke" and, that in fact "he's not selling sex but beauty" . . . WOW!

There are, needless to say, a few anomalies to Una's story. Stringfellow would not allow her sit in on auditions for new "dancers", nor would he tell her what percentage of the girls' heavenly earnings go to him.

When are we going to start calling a spade a spade on the issue of these clubs?

Peter Stringfellow is an employer in the sex industry, and he makes his money through the sexual exploitation of women (and men) for the gratification of men.

Let's not cloud this issue with cavier dinners, plush carpets and ladies' nights!