Madam, - I have lived in London for a number of years. During regular visits home I am often asked about the changes I have noticed. Until now most of these have been on the cards or inevitable. However, the sight of my compatriots "sucking fags" in freezing conditions outside pubs in Cork heralds a sea change, in my view.
There is now, I believe, an authoritarian desire increasingly to control Irish people in public and private matters. This illiberal agenda is being advanced by the most right-wing, smug and arrogant Government in Western Europe. Thanks to Ministers McDowell, Harney and their ideological confrères in Government, Ireland is fast becoming a petty-minded, obsessive and rule-ridden society.
More laws do not make people more law-abiding. Rather, they lead to a kind of clever but disingenuous literalism in the interpretation of rules. Litigiousness increases and lawyers laugh all the way to the bank - provided they can find an Irish one which does not specialise in ripping off its customers.
In the meantime we lose something special and unique, namely our traditionally flexible and commonsensical Irish attitude to rules and regulations. Life becomes more circumscribed and unpleasant for all, except the political élite and their authoritarian backers who profit from the constrictions.
One wonders who is next to be banished to "Cúl an tí". Binge drinkers? All drinkers? Epicureans of any kind? Any opponents of the new puritanism? - Yours, etc.,
DENIS LYONS, Barrister, Tankerton Street, London WC1.