Sir, - According to St John, Jesus Christ, who died almost 2,000 years ago, said: "The poor always ye have with you." He also asked: "Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?" He felt outraged that poverty was deemed acceptable.
G.B. Shaw, who died almost 50 years ago, wrote: "I can't talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes." He also observed that "the greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty."
Since GBS passed on we have witnessed the most dramatic improvement in our economy ever, with a privileged minority achieving enormous wealth, while an ever-increasing proportion of our people are destitute and homelessness is at record levels.
What does our Government intend to do about this obscene state of affairs? Not a lot, to judge from the comments of our leaders in general, and Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy in particular. And this attitude prevails despite the embarrassment of riches in the State's coffers.
In 1919, after the end of the first World War - just 80 years ago - when the first Dail sat, it confirmed the 1916 Declaration of Independence and ratified the Democratic Programme on which it proposed to build the republic. This radical, egalitarian programme was remarkably enlightened. Invoking the authority of "our first President, Padraig Mac Phiarais", it announced: "With him we reaffirm that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare." It insisted that the Government's first duty was to ensure that "no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing or shelter" and that it should introduce "a sympathetic scheme for the care of the nation's aged and infirm". Apparently this was too good to be true.
Like so many subsequent broken pre-election promises, the Democratic Programme has hardly been seen or heard of since. Our two-tier society is a far cry from that envisioned by our founding fathers. One despairs of our ever getting it right.
And what is the contribution of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (Irish version)? With notable consistency, it keeps on doing what it has always done: it promises us pie in the sky when we die.
Promises, promises ... - Yours, etc.,
Myles Crowe, Old Brewery Lane, Clonakilty, Co Cork.