Sir, – In your article about young officers buying themselves out of the Defence Forces (News, January 6th), it is stated that at the time of going to print, no answer had been received to inquiries made to Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe. I wonder, as do other people I have spoken to on the subject of the Defence Forces, is there some kind of unspoken agreement or embargo on asking the actual Minister of Defence, Leo Varadkar, to comment on the dire state of the ministry of which he is at least nominally in charge? – Yours, etc,
MELVYN WILCOX ,
Cappoquin,
Co Waterford.