Sir, - As a long time believer in European unity I was horrified by the current exhibition detailing the history of money through the ages at Dublin Castle. Organised by the European Commission it is badly laid out, many of the exhibits are incorrectly labelled and the theme is extremely difficult to follow. A poor and somewhat idiomatic translation from French of the legends attached to most of the exhibits does not help.
Amongst numerous "bowlers" the description of the University of Dublin at the end of the 16th century as a leading "Catholic" university on a map showing all the universities of Europe must be the most obvious to an Irishman.
If an opponent of the European ideal or of EMU wished to illustrate the lack of transparency of the Brussels bureaucracy he could not have, done better than, to mount this exhibition. Mercifully it closes here shortly but I very much fear that it may be mounted in other European capitals.
One of the extremely courteous and helpful attendants told me that they had made representation to Brussels about the historical inaccuracy and the general layout of the exhibition, only to be told that nothing could be changed, not even the glaring mistake with regard to the University of Dublin. No wonder people are beginning to question the wisdom of further progression to European union. - Yours, etc.
Blackrock Clinic, Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
PS. - The new Euro banknotes are shown in the last room. Notes off all denominations are the same size - a slavish imitation of the dollar? This departure from European currency tradition is not calculated to help those who are partially sighted or blind. - B.M.