Madam, - So President McAleese has "outed" us. We are not the easy-going lovers of life that we like others to think we are. And in reality our loyal president let us off lightly. Had she delved into our suicide rates, our teenage pregnancies or our crimes against the person we could have been much more embarrassed.
You are right to highlight the psychological issues and the need for a political response to the crisis but there is surely the need for a more profound response as well. Increased material prosperity in Ireland has gone hand in hand with increasingly self-destructive behaviour. Why? We clearly have deeper needs that remain unmet. We must begin to delve beneath the surface of the Irish mask and ask what is going on in our spirits.
Most surveys still reflect a widespread belief in God but the traditional ways of expressing that belief are now seen by many as discredited or ineffective. So what is left? Where does an Irish person go to satisfy the gnawing hunger of the soul? Where does he or she seek answers to the big questions about personal identity and purpose and meaning in life? These lie beneath the symptoms President McAleese has highlighted.- Yours, etc.,
SEÁN MULLAN, Castlefield Park, Dublin 15.