Sir, - It must have been with great joy that the people of the provinces met and greeted the Cabinet as it travelled from Ballaghaddreen to Cork. At last our great leaders have moved from the seat of imperial power for 800 years. With this newfound interest in what goes on outside the Pale, perhaps someone could have a quiet word with our national radio broadcasters.
The confusion of Dublin with Ireland and the misuse of "rural" and "urban" has now reached extraordinary heights. If the man or woman in the street is asked anything by our "national" broadcasters, it is invariably in Grafton Street. A rural view is seen as anything south of Newlands Cross or north of Dublin Airport. For example, Myles Dungan's RTE evening drive-time programme recently referred to a news item from a "rural" town. A town by its very definition must be "urban".
Not to be outdone, Eamonn Dunphy on Today FM, while discussing the book Angela's Ashes with Richard Harris, referred to Limerick as a "rural city in Ireland". Heavens above, just what does that mean? It is no small wonder the so called "national" broadcasters based in Dublin continue to lose audience share to other broadcasters when they are increasingly seen as a "Dublin" media by those from outside the Pale.
Perhaps only when the Cabinet moves permanently to one of our "rural" cities that the so called "national" media will cop on. - Yours, etc.
Fergal O'Byrne, Meath Green Party, Painestown , Yellow Furze, Co Meath.