Sir, - Having read Kevin Meyers's article (March 11th) on the impact of "our" increased prosperity, I wonder how much sense it makes to talk of such things in the context of my home county of Wexford.
The capital may indeed be undergoing much social change but beyond the confines of the Pale we do not have the luxury of speculating on how the Celtic Tiger will change us. I think it would be fair to say that the Celtic Tiger has had about as much positive impact on the lives of ordinary Wexford people as some of our more uninspiring public representatives.
While Wexford is wealthy in cultural terms, as alluded to in Rosita Boland's article on the Pikemen (March 11th), this wealth does not transfer into Tiger-style job creation. Wexford is still an unemployment blackspot and suffers from the same brain-drain that afflicted the capital in the 1980s. Instead of moving abroad, the young people move to Dublin but the effect on the local community is the same. This will continue as long as the educated workforce of Wexford are forced to seek work elsewhere. It is part of a vicious circle - companies will not invest in the area unless we have skilled workers but our skilled workers do not stay in Wexford because no companies will invest there.
I enjoyed the tribute to the 1798 Rebellion but I also found it very poignant. The sad irony is that this communal sense of identity is being quickly eroded to service the labour needs of the Dublin economy. What is galling is not the general indifference of the Government (that is nothing new) but that Wexford people themselves seem to regard their economic stagnation as inevitable. We are prepared to gather together to celebrate our past but yet we lack any communal solution to building a better future. Nobody even seems to be angry that they have failed to receive their share of "our" economic success. Consequently, our TDs feel no pressure to act.
The effects of a Dublin-centred economic strategy have resulted in a deepening housing crisis in the capital and working families are being priced out of the market.
If not for moral reasons, then pragmatism dictates that the Government look towards developing rural economies. Dublin cannot expand much more but there is plenty of room outside the Pale where house prices are cheaper and we would stand a much better chance of attracting the emigrant-Irish back home if the could live near communities they once left.
It is time for the Government to use business-friendly taxation to build up Ireland in the way they used it to build up Dublin. The future of many communities depend on the expansion of our economy towards previously neglected parts of the country. - Yours, etc.,
Emmet Moorehouse, Rathgar, Dublin 6. (formerly of Enniscorthy).