Sir, - Dail politicians have been paying tribute to the achievements of the late Jim Kemmy TD in his work and concern for the poor. But some of those who now praise Mr Kemmy are the same people who will write dismissive letters to poor people who may be struggling with what is to them a difficult issue, but what the politicians see as some lowly administrative detail. The needy will tell you that they do not receive encouraging replies to what Oireachtas politicians see as an irritant to their own comfortable lives. Like an itch.
Walk down the streets of any city or town and observe just who it is the elected politician will engage in casual conversation as he goes about his business when the tedious chore of electioneering is over for another four years. Irish politicians wish to be associated with the affluent/influential business class. Not for them the embarrassment of courting the company of the have-nots.
The late Dr Noel Browne and Jim Kemmy were rare people in Irish politics, who valued the contribution, despite hardship, which the poor bring to Irish life. - Yours, etc.,
Glengarriff Road, Bantry, Co Cork.