Madam, - There can hardly be a publican or their family in the country who are not eagerly waiting in the long grass for general election day to pay back Fianna Fáil and the PD Government candidates who are responsible for the demise of the pub trade as they knew it.
Leaving aside the desolation created in the rural areas by their policies and, accepting smoking and drink-driving laws needed to be regulated, what shines through from Minister Micheál Martin's "no compromise" to Minister McDowell's harry-them-by- night and hound-them-in-the- morning (not criminals) is the self-centred arrogance that comes from years of uninterrupted high office.
Equally, Minister Ó Cuív's latest suggestion for publicans to provide local transport systems do not resolve the dilemma and rampant fear of being stopped going to work the following day. It only encourages people to stay out of work.
This Government has destroyed publicans' and the elderly rural population's way of life. I hope to God its members will soon have plenty of time aside to reflect and rue. - Yours, etc,
JOE O'CALLAGHAN,
(Former Lord Mayor of Cork),
Blarney,
Co Cork.