Madam, - Why does so much public debate in Ireland avoid the obvious? Your poll in last Saturday's paper shows that 56 per cent of people put "the need to improve public services" at the top of their list of concerns, with 13 per cent quoting the "continued success of the economy" and only 6 per cent put taxation as their top priority.
Beside this article, your analysis was headed: "The economy is the real trump card".
While it is true that we cannot fund services without some economic growth, the idea that growth in itself will solve our social problems has proved tragically misleading.
Decisions over decades not to prioritise investment in education, childcare, transport, income re-distribution, health and nearly all public services for those who cannot afford to "go private" are producing predictable results. International studies show we have one of the highest levels of "relative poverty" and some of the worst services for the poor in the EU.
We need to think more seriously about what type of society we want to live in and how we can use our new wealth to pay for the services to make this possible.
This includes questioning the "accepted wisdom" that nations can grow rich only if they get mean and ignore welfare needs. The World Economic Forum's annual list of the 10 most competitive economies in the World always includes all five Nordic countries, which also have the least divided societies, the highest level of social protection and some of the highest taxes, particularly on wealth. This has not changed much as governments have come and gone.
Our own Government's commitment to produce a new National Action Plan on Inclusion in November to "make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty" by 2010 is welcome, and is a key opportunity to outline its plans to bring services up to European standards. - Yours, etc,
ROBIN HANAN, European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland, Gardiner Row, Dublin 1.