Madam, - The silly season is well and truly upon us.
First we had Charlie McCreevy's daft carbon tax plan (aka a rise in fuel prices and more money for the Exchequer in the name of, pardon my mirth, the global good). And now Micheál Martin wants to tax fatty foods. Are the elected representatives of this country so imaginatively bankrupt that their only solution for any given problem is to put a tax on it?
The children of this country are eating MacFat food because it is cheap and because their parents do not have the time to cook the nutritious, balanced meals of the romantic de Valera era. They work hard enough to keep their heads above water, pay the mortgage, pay the crêche, run a car and balance Mr McCreevy's books for him. To think of adding to this burden without any concessions is unconscionable.
Micheál Martin claims to be "very,very worried" about this nutritional state of affairs yet a tax on high fat or high carbohydrate foods is a reasonable solution only if there is a corresponding reduction in VAT on wholesome items. Let us have cheap fruit, vegetables, fish and skimmed milk. - Yours, etc.,
EAMON SWEENEY, South Hill, Dartry, Dublin 6.