Madam, - Garret FitzGerald's article on the importance of correct census data for long-term planning (Opinion & Analysis, April 15th) is well argued and well timed. One wonders, however, what happened to the information gathered from the 2002 census or the 1996 census.
How is it that we compiled data on where people work yet could not match that against transport provision? Trends in relation to the age of the population and consequent healthcare needs could have been predicted not just 10 but 20 years ago, yet now we have a crisis in health services. Parents, particularly those living in rapidly developing areas, are finding that their children have no automatic right to a place in the local school.
All this would be understandable if we were poor and could not afford to provide necessary services.
The current advertisement campaigns for the census are almost identical to those used in 2002 and preceding years, yet there is little evidence that the information was actually used to plan services. - Yours, etc,
CATHERINE MURPHY TD, Leixlip, Co Kildare.
Madam, - Declan Curneen announces (April 17th) that he spent two weeks in jail for not returning the last census form because he objects to the document being called a Census of Ireland. He is hopelessly misguided in his objection. Article 4 of the Constitution provides that name of the State is Éire or, in the English language, Ireland.
The Constitution takes precedence over the apparently mistakenly entitled Republic of Ireland Act 1948, and judgments of the Supreme Court have declared that the correct name of this State is Éire or Ireland. - Yours, etc,
GERARD CLARKE, Stirling Park, Dublin 14.