Madam, - Much has been written about "Rip-Off Ireland" in terms of the cost of goods and of services. I have listened to those who deny there is a case to answer but their utterances conflict with recent experiences of dining out and shopping in Coleraine, Newry and Derry. In Northern Ireland, comparable goods (often bought from the same chain stores as in the Republic) are much, much cheaper, even allowing for differences in currency, taxes and VAT rates.
Earlier today, a Dublin-based official agent quoted me a price for some parts for my car, a seven-year-old Mercedes. I shuddered when it was suggested I should pay €350 for a heater motor and checked the cost of the same part from an official dealer in Belfast. The price, when converted, was €277, so the saving by shopping up North was almost 21 per cent.
And no more guff about the prohibitive cost of property down south, please. Parts warehouses are rarely sited in Grafton Street. As for transport costs, Dublin is hardly further from Stuttgart than Belfast. And in terms of currency conversion rates, these goods are German-made so sterling's recent weakness against the euro should actually be raising prices in Northern Ireland.
Rip off Ireland? You'd better believe it. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT LOVE, The Grey Square, Portrane, Co Dublin.