Sir, – Padraig O’Rourke (Letters, May 1st) compares the value of the licence fee to the price of a cigarette. If he were a non-smoker however, he might object to having to pay 44 cent for a cigarette each day. So too do many Irish people object to having to pay 47 cent per day for a licence fee when they don’t watch RTÉ. More and more people are “cutting the cord” and turning to online media services for their entertainment, myself included. I would suggest RTÉ “cut the cord” with the public purse and prove their worth in a free market. Yours, etc,
BEN EUSTACE
Upper Leeson Street,
Dublin 4
Sir, – With reference to Padraig O’Rourke’s letter on the licence fee he makes a good point but I think his comparison is inapt. Cigarette consumption is an optional spend, while the licence fee is compulsory. Yours, etc,
JOHN BROWNE,
Ballincollig,
Co Cork
Sir, – May Day once meant Canon Sydney MacEwan's voice charming us on the Gay Byrne Show on RTÉ radio with his "Bring Flowers of the Rarest", but we became too sophisticated for such things as the Celtic Tiger padded into our lives. In the devastation of the economic collapse, music is one of the few treasures we have left, and now on May Day we celebrate the anniversary of the opening of RTÉ Lyric FM in 1999. Lyric offers music from the most austere to the frankly approachable. John Kelly's musical esoterica stand cheek-by-jowl with Marty Whelan's captivating wit and professionalism. Liz Nolan's sparkling ebullience rubs shoulders with George Hamilton's rich musical food for the soul. Bernard Clarke's demanding modernity is offset by Aedín Gormley's beguiling hits from the musicals. What else has the Celtic Tiger left us? Is this a record? Yours, etc,
CIAN P MacCIONNA,
The Paddocks Crescent,
Adamstown,
Co Dublin