Sir, – I wonder am I one of those Irish poor who happens to be 63 per cent better off than our English counterparts? I didn’t know I was a better off poor person until Fintan O’Toole used it in his opinion piece (“Monarchy is a bad habit. Up the Republic”, September 20th).
I’ve read The Irish Times over the years and contributed some letters but when I saw that statistic being used in his article it just took the biscuit.
There’s another tier in society that has always existed and that’s intellectual snobbery. To be poor no matter where you live is not a matter of statistics. This beloved Irish Republic was meant to make everyone equal regardless of their economic status. We should be ashamed to even have poverty in our so-called prosperous Republic.
So please don’t make comparisons of poverty. Those poor Irish people you speak of don’t need to be seen as in some way “prosperous” poor people.
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– Yours, etc,
BRIAN CLANCY
Cuan Glas,
Galway City.