Sir, - Permit me to write my appreciation of how the Irish taxpayers' money is being so well spent in Zambia, Central Africa. I have just returned from three months there, where I saw a number of the projects undertaken with Irish aid.
Irish aid has built two primary schools, a health clinic, a 32-unit market centre in Mazabuka in the south of the country, and is in the process of completing a housing scheme there. Other projects like these can be seen in Lusaka, the capital, in Monze, Ndola and in Kitwe towns.
The Irish representative there, Brendan Rogers (now leaving for Uganda), has done a great job, and you would be proud of being Irish when you see the results of that work. The first hospice for the dying is an old tavern under refurbishment at the moment in Ndola, and again the Irish Government has given funding for staff housing there. But more is needed as so many young people are dying of Aids or HIV-related diseases without anyone to care adequately for them.
I would urge our Government to reach the European level of one per cent of GNP in its next budget for developing countries. It has done well in the last few years. Let us share with the less well-off now while we can. It will come back on the double. - Yours, etc., Sr. Noreen Keane, RSM,
Convent of Mercy, Limerick.