A Chara, - Fintan O'Toole's article about the effects of high house prices on social apartheid (Opinion, January 14th) was thought-provoking. I don't disagree that the rapid ascent in house prices is beginning to erode some of the barriers which have segregated residential areas, but I think the process throws up some worrying corollaries.
In his second paragraph Mr O'Toole writes that "the cheapest rented accommodation is being taken by people who used to be able to afford the better flat". What becomes of those who used to be able to afford only the cheapest rented accommodation'? They are probably in a very precarious position indeed, perhaps at the end of a very long waiting-list for social housing.
The difference in income levels between those who occupy the more luxurious accommodation and those who are struggling to keep very modest roofs over their heads is obnoxiously large and continues to grow.
These developments can only be divisive, and make the Government's mantra of "social inclusion" ring very hollow indeed.
The Government could address the problem, but only by firm intervention in the housing market - and intervention is a bad word in these days of free markets when right-of-centre ideology prevails even in groups which were traditionally to the left. Ultimately, our society will pay the cost of allowing a proportion of its members to be forced to live diminished and impoverished lives at the hands of unfettered market forces. - Yours, etc., Ciaran Mac Aonghusa,
Dun Aengus, Na Duganna, Gaillimh.