Sir, - Padraig O'Morain (The Irish Times, July 29th) quotes a spokesman for a minority, single-issue group, who gives a simplistic reason - concern over clerical abuse - for the lower attendance at World Youth Day compared with the previous event in Rome in 2000.
The organisers report that the primary reason for the fall in numbers was the uncertainty about the Pope's health and whether the star attraction of the week would be able to travel. The projected attendance had gone down to 350,000 before the Pope's arrival, and the final attendance of some 800,00 showed his drawing power. Not bad for an old and sick man!
The second influence on numbers was the post -September 11th fear of travel in the US. If parents wouldn't let their children travel it was because of this, not clerical abuse.
The third reason is that the Canadian immigration officials were concerned that delegates from poorer countries would not return home and refused visas to a quarter of those who applied. Ugandan church officials had spent $32,000 on air fares, lodging and registration fees to ensure their delegates would meet regulations, but only 14 young people out of 430 were granted visas. Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia and Sudan were similarly affected. In some other countries the bishops themselves refused registration certificates for fear that the delegates might not return. - Yours, etc.,
Father BRIAN MAGEE, CM, St Vincent's, Sunday's Well, Cork.