Sir, - What a pity the replica famine ship is sailing to the best-fed country in the world. Wouldn't it be better to fill it with powdered milk and bottled water and send it to Ethiopia?
Some 16 million people are on the verge of death by starvation in the Horn of Africa. Ireland's response has been to "set aside" an extra £1.5 million for famine relief. This is after a monthly budget surplus of £1,000 million. Ireland is going through a worse famine than that experienced in the 19th century. We have all the food we need but we are starved of Christian feelings and values. We are numbed like all the other Europeans into acceptance of rotting food mountains. Prices must be maintained. People must die. But isn't that what was said in the 1840s?
People do not have to die. All that is lacking is the will to save them. If people like John O'Shea of GOAL are given the money and equipment they need, widespread famine can be averted. The Irish can do anything, but right now we are doing nothing. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Hanlon, Sandford Avenue, Dublin 8.