Sir, - Given the revelation that Garret's debts, like Charlie's, were cancelled by Irish banks, presumably because it made the most economic sense for the banks, would those personalities and the political parties they served not consider backing Bono, Mohammed Ali and the performers of the Brit `99 Awards in the millennium campaign for the cancellation of the international debts of the poorest of the developing countries?
Bono & co add their weight and their consciences to the longstanding appeal of the Christian churches that the millennium should be marked by some effort on the part of global institutions and governments to redress the imbalance of wealth, trade and resources in our world. In this year's Lenten campaign, Trocaire has raised our awareness of this reality and the scandal of the stranglehold wealthy nations have over poor ones through debts that can never be paid off.
If our banks can come to acceptable arrangements with public figures and institutions, believing in the long run that it is better for their own interests, why can't they apply the same logic to the debt of the developing countries? - Yours, etc.
Brendan Carr, C.S.Sp., (Angola), c/o Kimmage Manor, Dublin 12.