IN HIS column last Sunday, Neil Francis (Sport, 3 June) made a trite and casual analogy between the performance of the touring Irish rugby team and the phenomenon of the 'disappeared' in Argentina.

Writing of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Mr Francis suggested that "they might come over to Ireland sometime because some of the players who operated in the outfield channels in green today will disappear without trace - never to be seen again". Am I alone in being disturbed by the crude comparison between a game of rugby and the state-sponsored abduction, torture, and murder of up to 30,000 Argentinian citizens? I realise that sports journalists are under pressure to write a succinct review of a game, whilst also injecting some local themes or linguistic puns into the mix, but perhaps Mr Francis should have utilised a less traumatic analogy to describe the Irish performance in Buenos Aires.

Shane McCorristine, Kingswood, Dublin 24 We'll always have Paris The land of the free, for rich white women!

Keith Nolan, Caldra House, Caldragh, Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim.

Devil's in the details in dodgy deals

WAS it Gertrude Stein who wrote: A deal is a deal is a deal is a deal? Or was it about roses that she wrote?

Whoever takes the Taoiseach's seat in D�il Eireann on 14 June or soon thereafter will have to have had some skill as a weaving spider. A deal - and a government - we will have. But what kind of a deal?

Despite what the old song said about a rose without a thorn, Shakespeare was closer to the mark when he said that:

"Roses have thorns and silver fountains mud; clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun." So too with deals.

Those who want to be in the family photo with the President clutching their seals of office in the Aras will need to have some care when they step into the spider's lair to buy their tickets for that happy occasion.

Ultimately, Mr Ahern's personal finances will probably prove to have been neither illegal nor improper but simply befuddled. Strange for a qualified accountant, graduate of the London School of Economics and a reasonably competent Minister for Finance. But who wants to throw the first stone? However, (whatever about the individual Fianna F�il patriots and servants of the people whom I am proud to say that I have known and know), Mr Ahern's party as a political movement has been pursuing, certainly for half a century (! ), an agenda and value-system which is diametrically opposed to the agenda of social democrats - and those who take literally the broader aspirations of the 1916 Proclamation. Functionally and from its record in government, the agenda of institutional Fianna F�il is not (my italics) to "cherish all the children of the nation equally". A hyena may play at being a chameleon but the acid rain of history sooner or later washes away the best disguise and reveals the spots.

So, little ones, Hansel and Gretel, be very very afraid and very careful. That which we know is a dodgy deal by any other name could smell as foul.

And by the way: For whom does the Dell toll?

Maurice O'Connell, Forge Park, Oakpark, Tralee, Co Kerry

Tyrants and dictators should all be jailed

CHARLES TAYLOR'S arraignment at the International Criminal Court this week is a welcome step: evil tyrants like him should never be allowed to walk free amongst men.

Much is being made about the fact that he is the first African dictator to be brought to justice under the International Criminal Court. But what of the others?

There been a litany of tyrants and dictators that have murdered countless millions.

What of ex-leaders, such as Chad's Hissene Habre, Uganda's Idi Amin and the DR Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko, all of whom died rich and in their own beds.

Many, such as Ethiopia's vile ex-president, Mengistu Haile Mariam, live on in splendour - he as a guest of the equally despicable Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe - while their people struggle to recover from their apocalyptic reigns.

Even more still inhabit the lush presidential palaces that are found in every African capital: from Africa's last absolute monarch King Mswati III in Swaziland, President-forLife of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, and the facilitator of the Darfur genocide, Omar AlBashir.

The international community is getting excited about Taylor's trial, and that is justified. This could be a major step. But the work cannot stop here. We cannot get complacent in our quest for justice for the people of Africa.

Putting one dictator behind bars is not proportional justice for the people who have been made the world's poorest and most hopeless by these very regimes.

John O'Shea, Goal, PO Box 19, Dun Laoghaire

Make no mistake about Skellig Miche�l

IN RESPONSE to the article on the conservation of Skellig Miche�l by Una Mullally (News, 3 June), we would like to clarify a number of points.

Mr Michael Gibbons made his initial remarks in June 2006, as a personal contribution on a restricted, members-only email discussion list. At no point were his personal comments published on the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland website (www. iai. ie) nor could they have been regarded as the opinion of the Institute.

The letter which you cited from the Office of Public Works was issued in late June 2006, almost 12 months ago.

The IAI responded proactively, at that time, to the concerns raised by the OPW, including posting the OPW's response on the same email discussion list to ensure balance.

Moreover, at the IAI Autumn Conference in November 2006, a session was devoted to the ongoing conservation programme at Skellig Miche�l at which Grellan D Rourke, Alan Hayden and Michael Gibbons presented papers.

The IAI has maintained open and positive lines of communication with the OPW on this matter. The IAI looks forward to the full publication of the management plan, and the report on the works carried out.

Teresa Bolger, Public Relations Officer, Institute of Archeologists in Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin 2 Bertie Ahern and his labyrinth AS IT is now open season on all tribunals, I have a question for Conor Maguire SC. If this was a trial in an "ordinary" court, and given Bertie's labyrinthine explanations of his finances, loans, gifts, house-stamp duty/renovations etc, would Mr Maguire be happy to put him in the witness box to convince a jury?

Brendan Cafferty, Ballina, Co Mayo

Paisley speaking without perspective

SUZANNE Breen's article on Paisley (News, 3 June) quotes him as saying that "the union is safe for at least 100 years". He, therefore, believes that his side continues to win the struggle that has gone on on this island since the plantations. It is no wonder he is as pleased as punch with what he calls 'Ulster' safe within the UK. In the event of his being happy to be within the UK someone should have told him to keep out of the affairs of this democratic republic during an election campaign. His political ancestors signed the Ulster Covenant 'to use all means necessary' including civil war to stop this island from getting a limited form of self government. That resulted in the destruction of constitutional Irish nationalism and ensured that the only course open to nationalists was force. Ninety-five years later he and his prime minister's partisan and patronising support for one of the protagonists in our election is helping to transform this democratic republic into a one party state. Most depressing of all none of us seems to appreciate the significance of what is happening.

A Leavy, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13