Sir - Lest I be interpreted as defending in any manner the attacks in New York, First let me say I don't. Such acts cannot and should not be defended by civilised human beings.
However, the attacks have been blamed for 100,000 redundancies in the airline industry in the US. Aer Lingus has also planned job losses, as have other companies which rely on tourism.
While I do not doubt that this attack has affected tourism and travel, there are more significant underlying causes which would have resulted in reduced numbers travelling anyway.
The US has been heading towards recession for the past 18 months and it will drag the rest of the world with it. Many dot coms are dot gone and Ireland will not escape the slings and arrows of the world's bad fortune. Business and consumer confidence are the most important factors in a healthy economy. Both of those have been falling consistently for some time in the US and in Ireland. This accelerated the trend.
September 11th is being used by many as an opportunity to prune workforce numbers and blame events in New York. The truth is that job losses would have occurred anyway. - Yours, etc.,
Denis Boland, Washington Street, Dublin 8.