Sir, – Pat Leahy’s latest opinion piece (“Real change in modern Ireland means really annoying some people”, January 16th) was strident in demanding change from the usual bêtes noires of The Irish Times (trade unions, “Nimbys”, the political left). Conspicuous by its absence was any reference to The Irish Times’s own capacity for self-reflection.
Given that this Republic has been ruled by the “centrist”, market-oriented political forces The Irish Times has endorsed for almost its entire history, it seems bizarre that no blame for our multiple, overlapping crises attaches to that dominant strain of politics, or to its exponents.
Instead, your columnist, in the grand tradition of your newspaper, unleashes both barrels on the real villains in our society: our besieged healthcare workers and those few entities which have dared cry “halt” to the ongoing disaster of developer-led housing policy.
He also repeats the utterly discredited claim that our shortage of available housing is due to planning objections (despite a welter of evidence to the contrary).
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Is it too much to ask that, in the spirit of Pat Leahy’s article, The Irish Times itself attempts some introspection – and, God forbid, some change in attitude – in 2023? – Yours, etc,
TURLOUGH KELLY,
Ringsend,
Dublin 4.
