Madam, - John Lonergan's article on the increasing rich/poor divide in Irish society (Opinion & Analysis, September 24th) brings to mind the Ireland of the 18th and 19th centuries, when five courageous Irish people tackled an even much worse situation where millions of Irish people were cruelly ground down in abject and hopeless poverty.
These five people - Nano Nagle, Catherine McAuley, Mary Aikenhead, Margaret Aylward and Edmund Rice, all very wealthy in their own right - used their resources and set up religious congregations to provide education, medical and social care to enable people to rise above the ignominy of their poverty.
Would that we had equally courageous and committed powerful people in Ireland today to create a fair, equal and just society. - Yours, etc,
Fr CON McGILLICUDDY, Grace Park Road, Dublin 9.