Sir, - In response to the letter on "forgotten mothers" (August 13th), may I point out that the Government has, in fact, singled out mothers for special treatment - a treatment for which the Government, and the Government alone, must be given credit and from which all other citizens will wish to be dissociated.
In his first Budget, Mr Dermot Ahern, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, increased the old-age pension by £5 weekly to acknowledge the contribution made by older people in building up the country to what it is today. But he increased by just £1.50, or 30 per cent of £5, the portion of the contributory pension which is applicable to those mothers who sacrificed their own careers to provide the nation with its citizens.
Furthermore, it is the policy of this Government to limit further old-age pension increases to these mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers on an ever-reducing scale during the lifetime of this Government.
The Government could not be more precise in expressing the low esteem in which it holds the mothers who gave birth to and nurtured the nation's citizens who are so vital to creating and maintaining the success of the Celtic Tiger. - Yours, etc., Kathleen Walker,
Barton Road East,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.