Sir, - Dermot Ahern's claims (Opinion, April 9th) that FF welfare measures are fighting inequality and social exclusion.
Allowing for the fact that this refers to -
a £10-a-week increase for old-age pensioners;
a £64-a-week increase for people earning £40,000 a year;
a £700-a-week increase for An Taoiseach
- even Mr Ahern must agree that FF is fighting a losing battle.
As pointed out elsewhere in the same issue of The Irish Times by Fr Sean Healy of CORI: "It was not inevitable that the fruits of economic growth should be distributed primarily among the better off. This was happening because of Government policies that chose to widen the gap between the poorest and the better off. This is fundamentally unjust and illustrates why a new approach is urgently needed. We have the prosperity; all we need now is some fairness." - Yours, etc.,
Anne Cahill, Laurel Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.