Sir, - Late on New Year's Eve I watched on Finnish TV the global television coverage which included festivities from many European capitals. London, Paris, Budapest and other cities presented highly imaginative millennium spectaculars. I watched with anticipation as Dublin's turn came; when it did, it was embarrassingly disappointing and paltry by comparison. Ireland's slot in that programme consisted only of showing happy musicians on the stage in Merrion Square. There were no scenes from what was happening elsewhere in the city. Nothing of Ireland's people, beautiful landscapes or creative know-how was shown. It would have been nice if Ireland could have portrayed itself as being more than just a place of lively music and The Pint. Maybe next time? - Yours, etc.
Niall O'Donoghue, Tampere, Finland.