Sir, - Illiteracy, like so many scourges which afflict this country (e.g. bad health, drug abuse and employee exploitation), affects the poor disproportionately. If, as international surveys suggest, one-in-four is functionally illiterate, then the reality is that a staggering one-in-two of our lower classes is illiterate. If the Millennium Committee is looking for a worthwhile project, can I suggest it tries to raise the literacy level of the poorest sector from 50 per cent to over 70 per cent within the next few years. - Yours, etc.,
John Devlin, Erne Terrace, Baile Atha Cliath 2.