Sir, – In "Giving it away: The world's top philanthropists", you note that "Chuck Feeney by the end of next year will have given €1.5 billion to education projects in Ireland alone". I and I suspect the majority of your readers have very little concept of a million or a billion. I have become totally desensitised to these numbers over the last several years due to our financial implosion.
I encourage all your readers to spend a few minutes at atlanticphilanthropies.org to get a better appreciation of what €1.5 billion can do. To see the numerous pages of grants by Atlantic Philanthropies to Ireland makes great reading.
I may not fully agree with where Atlantic Philanthropies spent all its money but I am in complete awe of Mr Feeney’s extraordinary generosity to this island. The very youngest of your readers will unlikely see such giving on our island in their lifetimes. – Yours, etc,
HENRY COUNIHAN,
Goatstown, Dublin 14.
Sir, – Michael Gannon (December 4th) asserts that he has "yet to observe any government that does business for its citizens with the creativity, proficiency and effectiveness of Mr Zuckerberg's company". He fails to see the difference between the entities in his comparison. A business exists to make profits, which Mr Zuckerberg has achieved astronomically. A government exists to serve the people. That's why we have a tax system in the first place – to lever some fairness against the natural inequalities that arise from business. Apples and oranges, etc. – Yours, etc,
DONAL MacERLAINE,
North Strand,
Dublin 3.