Sir, - Over the past five years Dublin's city centre retailers have never had it so good, so it is extraordinary that the capital's Christmas lights continue to be so uninspiring.
For well over a decade Christmas has brought us a toy-town image: Edwardian wreaths on Grafton Street, the gaudy noughts and crosses of Henry Street and the admittedly elegant but underwhelming tree lights on O'Connell's central meridian. Surely it is time our traders repaid our considerable investment in them with a display that might inspire some pride and delight in us.
There are far more pressing problems in the world, but niggardliness and a void of imagination are two vices always worth challenging. If we cannot be bothered to even put a decent window-dressing on our Christmas avarice, what hope is there for us? - Yours, etc.,
Donal Nugent, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.