Madam, - Denis O'Brien's remarks about why he chooses to live outside this country (The Irish Times, October 24th) sadly tell us more about Mr O'Brien than about Ireland.
For somebody who should be a role model to many young Irish entrepreneurs, the coarse language and hysterical overstatement about the country "turning into a communist state" sends all the wrong messages.
The fact that Mr O'Brien and others of his ilk choose to live abroad rather than pay capital gains tax at relatively modest rates to the State where they made that money, and of which they are citizens, speaks volumes about their attitude to their country and their community.
It neatly inverts John F. Kennedy's famous dictum, the motto now being: ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK E. BANNISTER, Morehampton Terrace, Dublin 4.
Madam, - It is unbecoming of Mr Denis O'Brien to make such derogatory remarks about the country of his birth that gave him the opportunity to gain great wealth.
I find his attitude deeply offensive and insulting to me. He should reflect on his comments as they apply to himself and not as they apply to his country. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK LANE, Abberley, Killiney, Co Dublin.