Howlin is being too hard on Pat Rabbitte

Gerard Howlin is a little ungenerous to Pat Rabbitte (‘Unwilling to exit the stage with dignity, Pat foolishly Rabbittes on’, Irish Examiner, 6 Aug 2014) and declares that "the audience...was seldom won for his cause".

Pat Rabbitte’s singular contribution to Irish society was his parliamentary leadership during the 26th Dáil on practices within the Goodman companies that affected ordinary workers and ordinary farmers.

For that alone we should all applaud this pre-eminent assemblyman.