Sir, - For months past you, the media, have not left us, the public, a moment to think. If we weren't required to attend to CJH, Lowry, Diana, Burke, there would be The Match.
Now we have a couple of weeks before we elect a new President. We have just heard once again that we are much more wealthy than we had supposed. We could meditate on Pharaoh's dream: seven fat cattle, then seven starved cattle. Seven years of famine to follow seven years of plenty.
Let us remember that the gap between rich and poor is wider in this country than in any other in Europe. Remember that last April the Conference of Religious in Ireland, with the help of Prof Charles Clark, showed that we could afford to pay every citizen, young and old, a basic income, thereby giving everyone self-esteem, freedom to work for themselves, for their children or for employers, and incidentally eliminating a great amount of unproductive desk-work.
It was shown that any government could not only afford this, but would save money. That was before the latest tax windfall. God forbid that we waste this on tax cuts when we could end the multiple evils of unemployment. This Government has promised to study the proposal. This Government is somewhat distracted. Let us insist it moves before the Euro or the millennium or a Black Tuesday prevents us. -Yours, etc.,
Maire Mullarney,
Whitechurch Road, Dublin 14.