Madam, - De Valera's vision for his ideal Ireland would be, he hoped, "the home of a people who valued material wealth only as the basis of right living, of a people with frugal comfort". Your recent opinion poll reveals a new set of values. Economy and growth are the only game in town. Ironically, the party Dev founded is now the main exponent of the new materialist philosophy that envelops us.
While we are making enormous strides economically, Ireland - as Eddie Holt pointed out (Weekend, January 21st) - has become "coarser". Economic success has made people more selfish and greedy. Daily we witness our streets tremble beneath our feet from passing lorries and cement mixers heading for building sites. House-building has become a fetish reminiscent of the land hunger of earlier days with its social and moral effects. Few can understand when or how it will end.
It is abundantly clear that the obsession with the sacred cow - the economy - has deflected our attention from the more enduring values that have informed our cultural and natural heritage. Of course, the economy should provide the good life for the greatest number but it should not be allowed to dominate our lives or diminish the quality of urban and rural life.
Unrealistic as it may seem today, we might learn something from De Valera's vision of 60 years ago. - Yours, etc,
JOHN F. FALLON, Boyle, Co Roscommon.