A Chara, - Opposition to racism is something which receives general support from many people, including, we assume, a large portion of your readership. How depressing, then, to see that even The Irish Times occasionally gives in to sensationalist reporting which has a racist effect, even if not necessarily intended. We refer to the report (June 30th) of settlements made with tax defaulters, based on data published in Iris Oifigiul.
This report is headlined, "Two Chinese restaurants among tax defaulters" and features a large picture of one of these restaurants. Inspection of the table of data, however, shows that the two Chinese restaurants (collectively having settlements of £312,723); are not especially important in these league tables. Rather more sensational are the two company directors who were responsible for some £542,250 worth of back taxes. In monetary terms the headline, "Two company directors among tax defaulters" would have been much more representative.
Alternatively, on a demographic basis it would have been more informative to highlight the eleven publicans whose debts collectively represented some £346,618.06 worth of back taxes. If you were looking for an attention-getting headline, it might have suited to announce, "Government calls time on publicans". Perhaps company directors or publicans represent a more powerful lobby, or perhaps not; either way, focusing on two Chinese restaurants in this context was distorted and pandered to popular prejudices. - Is sinne,
Margaret Kallen, Jeffrey Kallen, Fairview, Dublin 3.