Sir, – There seems an obvious contradiction at the heart of Paschal Donohoe’s essay where he employs Heraclitus to show that change is constant and good and then proceeds to set out a case to stick to the same political ideology, what he calls the “centre”, to inform governance (“Water debacle shows that the centre can hold”, Opinion & Analysis, April 19th).
Heraclitus also pointed out that, “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears”. When one sees the current state of the country following decades of “centre right” governance, strewn as it is with homelessness, hungry children, ever growing brutal violence on our streets and deepening societal division, we can indeed only hope that Heraclitus was correct when he concluded that “there is nothing permanent except change”.
Contrary to what Mr Donohoe would have us believe, political stasis is now our greatest enemy. We need change of direction with the utmost urgency. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
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Rathedmond,
Sligo.