Madam, – I read with interest Vivian Good’s letter (May 12th) comparing the largesse of our Govenrment in spending €400,000 on a painting of Count John McCormack when people, such as Orla Tinsley and her fellow cystic fibrosis sufferers, cannot get the crucial treatment to save their lives.
It may interest your readers to know that this is not an isolated incident.
The HSE currently intends to spend €29,200 on artwork for a new primary health care facility in Tallaght. I put it to them that it was perverse to spend this much money on art when budget constraints were cited for not making cancer vaccines available for teenage girls recently. I was informed that this plan would go ahead.
A question of priorities no doubt. – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH BERGIN,
Caragh Green,
Naas,
Co Kildare.