Sir, - Mr Ahern believes that a new stadium would represent "an inspirational statement of what we are as a people"; what a sad reflection on the Irish!
I have no objection to trivia, and if people want to spend their leisure in pursuit of a ball, or even to spend hours watching others do so and then hours more discussing the results, I shall not complain.
But if our highest aspiration in the third millennium is to be not feeding the poor, healing the sick and saving our planet from destruction (to mention just a few less trivial aims), but gathering vast numbers in a single place to watch others pursue an activity which in no way furthers humanity's progress, then the outlook for our race is bleak indeed. - Yours, etc., Christopher Fettes,
Bloomville House, Cloneygowan, Co Offaly.