Celebrating The Millennium

Sir, - Geraldine Kennedy reported (The Irish Times, September 11th) that the Government was setting up a National Millennium …

Sir, - Geraldine Kennedy reported (The Irish Times, September 11th) that the Government was setting up a National Millennium Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Seamus Brennan TD, the Chief Whip. It is understood that the Government is making £50 million available for three major millennium projects which will be announced in the near future.

It seems that so far none of the projects suggested has anything to do with the Millennium, which is, of course, the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ and the moment when God came down into human history.

Because of the particularly Christian nature of the event, it is important that at least one major project will clearly mark 2,000 years of Christianity, such as a statue of Christ the King overlooking Dublin City, or a statue in O'Connell Street of St Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland. The absence of such a statue in O'Connell Street is extraordinary. It is particularly obvious during the new so-called St Patrick's Festival, when witches, dragons and demons are everywhere but there is no sign of St Patrick. - Yours, etc.,

John O'Halloran,

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