Sir, – One point stood out to me in Fintan O’Toole’s foray into cartographic criticism (“The new map of Earth is a wake-up call for Ireland”, Opinion, September 22nd). He suggests that Ireland’s proximity to an arbitrary East-West centre (the Greenwich meridian) is one thing that’s been diluted by the new Equal Earth map: “Ireland looks a lot more northerly and a lot less central.”
But the newly approved map still uses the Greenwich meridian as its centreline. These islands may seem closer to the North Pole on the Equal Earth map than they did on maps that employed the Mercator projection, but London is still slap bang in the centre, in lateral terms. The true decentring of western Europe will have to wait for some future cartographic reform. – Yours, etc,
THEO HONOHAN,
Tudor Road,
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Dublin 6.
Sir – Grateful as we all are for Fintan O’Toole informing us how small Ireland looks in the new Equal Earth map, I doubt many Irish people ever thought we were the centre of the universe. Much more telling (on many levels) is how gigantic Africa is. Europe could practically be swallowed by the Sahara alone. – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH WOOD,
Douglas,
Cork.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s opinion that “The new map of the Earth is a wake-up call for Ireland” leaves me breathless. My dad, a wise, kindly and erudite man, made clear that Cloughjordan is the centre of the world, though he conceded that Headford was also central after he married mammy. He didn’t need a colonial map nor a comparison with Madagascar or even Borrisokane. I prefer to rest with his certainties. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HAMELL,
Courtlands,
Dublin 9
