Madam, - While I acknowledge that space on the Letters page is at a premium and the idea is to give the broadest range of views on the many subjects that arise, Jason O'Mahony's comments (August 6th) deserve a response.
Much of the letter is "welcome to Parlon country" guff, but perhaps he might explain to us how the Swedes manage to have a "very high standard of living" achieved by a progressive tax system and still keep their wealthy at home. And surely a "very high standard of living" is the objective.
Does Mr O'Mahony not see that the winner-take-all American system that Mary Harney is endeavouring to import into Ireland means that one end of the social scale is peopled with those who bathe in asses' milk while at the other end are people who can ill afford to boil water? Surely it is unforgivable to have such disparity when we know from many European models that all can enjoy a high standard of living.
What is the point of amassing huge amounts of money that cannot be spent in a lifetime? - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Madam, - Are there really two Mary Harneys? Your recent letters seem to paint a distorted picture.
As somebody who had the dubious honour of working hard for £1.40 an hour in McDonalds when I left school in the good old days of 1985, was it not Mary the Socialist that brought in the minimum wage after the centre-left Rainbow government failed to do so?
As a keen athlete who suffocated in smog during the good old days, was it not Mary the Green who brought in smokeless fuel?
As somebody with 17 short-term jobs on my curriculum vitae, with my first five years during the late 1980s, was it not Mary the Minister who brought in zero unemployment causing Irish companies to recruit from overseas - an idea that would have been laughed at during the good old days of emigration.
I rest my case and thank our Tánaiste for her honest and diligent endeavours. - Yours, etc.,
AIDAN KENNEDY, (Progressive Democrats, Dublin North East), Thornville Avenue, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5.