Sir, - Why do people need to be so negative about our modern society? From recent letters, one might be led to believe that our society is in tatters and that only a tiny minority of people are experiencing an improvement in their standard of living. This is not so. Most people are gaining from our prosperity, but some are gaining more than others.
At all stages in the past some have suffered more than others. I am not saying this is right but it is, however, inevitable. For instance, house prices were depressed below the levels in other countries because of emigration. Therefore, when some people had to emigrate others could reap the benefit by being able to afford cheap homes. The key point is that we must transfer the gains of the modern era into a social and public gain. This means that the great mass of the public have more responsibility, not less, in ensuring that areas of public interest are served.
So far the Celtic Tiger era has been dominated by certain groups eager to maximise their take from the loot. How many TDs have lost their seats because of the so-far unimproved health system? Unimproved education system? How many TDs/county councillors have been given the boot because of the unsatisfactory transport systems? How many public services managers are under pressure from their customers - the public?
The problem has little to do with GDP growth but rather with the fact that our political and public management systems are dominated by people who deliver to certain groups but not to the general public. Why are we so afraid of telling them they should deliver not just to me and my neighbourhood but to people at the other end of the country as well?
In such a small country why is it so difficult to deliver to the population as a whole? The reason might be that as a people we don't vote for the general but for the specific and local, and the politicians know this. - Yours, etc.,
Mark Needham, Castleknock, Co Dublin.