Madam, - I can empathise with Brian Quigley's views of the newspaper coverage of Galway Races, as expressed in his letter of August 10th. But there is another side to the story.
I have been attending Galway Races for about 50 years. I was never in a helicopter, I never had a glass of champagne at Ballybrit and I never laid eyes on Bertie Ahern there (the only Minister who seems to escape regularly from the enclave that occupies a small corner in the vast area is John O'Donoghue).
This year, as ever, wandering about the enclosure, I saw many thousands of the people who still make this country a great place in which to live, and every one of them seemed to be in great humour and thoroughly enjoying themselves. In fairness to the race committee, they provide great facilities for such people (eg a first-class dinner in the Carvery for €17).
The excesses of corporate hospitality and the internet will be with us for a long time, but there is a life without them. - Yours, etc,
TOM GREALY, Threadneedle Road, Salthill, Galway.