A chara, - I was in a large electrical store on the other day. There, surrounded by large and small televisions telling stories of disaster was a tsunami of spending.
The world needs a tsunami of practical compassion, unhindered by recriminations, for immediate relief and long-term reconstruction. This, unlike nature's tsunami, is under our control.
If this week's disaster causes the earth to move under us and unleashes a lasting tsunami of compassion, we may have something for which the world can be thankful. It could enable us to deal not just with the current catastrophe, but also with the even larger but less dramatic crisis of ongoing disaster and death in many other parts of the world. Let nobody say the world does not have the capability to do it.
There must be many people in Ireland who would willingly contribute €250 or more to a registered charity, and so be able to avail of the CHY2 form for tax relief on such donations. The form is available on the Revenue website at http://www.revenue.ie/pdf/chy2.pdf. The form is on page 8 of this document, with notes on page 9. - Yours, etc.,
PADRAIG McCARTHY,
The Presbytery,
Avoca,
Co Wicklow.
Madam, - The cynical manipulation of data and the recent naïve utterances of Bono should fool no one regarding the true picture of America's aid to developing countries and its miserly attitude to the current disaster in Asia.
The US has so far offered €35 million. By comparison, military spending by the US government is running at over €1 billion per day.
The US also spends less as a percentage of its GDP on helping developing countries than any other industrialised country.
We should not be surprised. It also has the worst health service of any of the developed countries. A nation which thinks so little of its own poor can hardly be expected to worry about the poor in the rest of the world. - Yours, etc.,
ALAN McPARTLAND,
Grange Court,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Madam, - So we have a Government that can spend €50 million on an unused computer voting system and buy Farmleigh House, refurbish it, furnish it, maintain and run it, in order to entertain some dignitaries for three weeks in the year.
It can pay €1,200 a day to a PR "consultant" for one Minister and it sends €1 million for relief to the devastated areas of the Indian Ocean. Sorry! Make that €2 million. Well done, Minister! You could only buy one third of a house in a certain terrace in Dalkey for that.
What a generous, caring people we are, to be sure. - Yours, etc.,
MARY O'MALLEY,
Woburn Avenue,
Bishopstown,
Cork.
Madam, - What on earth does Cllr Tony McDermott of the Green Party (December 30th) think would be achieved by having a day of mourning on January 3rd for the tsunami victims in which "all Government Departments and offices be closed" - and no doubt businesses as well? What an empty, worthless and cynical gesture.
Rather than extending the Christmas/New Year break, he would be better proposing that everyone work an extra day, say a Sunday, in order to donate the extra wages earned to the victims. - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.