Madam, - Recent letters on the lack of manners in Irish society, in particular on public transport, have implied that in previous years seats on buses and trains were always offered to the old, the feeble, and the heavily pregnant, and that the advent of the "Celtic Tiger" has led us to abandon this practice.
In 1973, when I was eight months pregnant, I travelled on a bus to Clane, a journey which at that time took over a hour. The bus was full when I boarded and I was left to stand for the entire journey. There is no happy past when good manners prevailed in Irish society. - Yours, etc,
ANN MATTHEWS, Castletown, Celbridge, Co Kildare.