Sir, – Your motoring correspondent states that car ownership among the younger demographic is plummeting and suggests that traffic congestion may be the cause ("Car ownership in Europe plummets", October 15th). I suspect the main reason for the slump in car sales is the smaller wage packets the younger workforce has to endure; plus many workers are forced to work for very low pay under the internship system. Across the EU, youth unemployment is running at 24 per cent. In Greece and Spain, it is over 50 per cent! If we are to break this cycle of stagnation, employers need to follow Henry Ford's lead in the 1920s when he paid his workers well enough so they could afford to buy the new cars he produced. We have given the money to the banks and it hasn't worked. It is time to give it to young workers. – Yours, etc,
JOHN DEVLIN,
Dublin 2.