Madam, - We heard with great sadness of the death of Séamus Brennan. During his time in the Department of Social and Family Affairs he took the lead in recommending radical changes in the social welfare system to address the poverty of lone parents and proposed revolutionary changes to the social welfare system.
These proposals would fundamentally alter the system from one based on the traditional male breadwinner model to a more egalitarian system where all families, regardless of their marital status or living arrangements, would be eligible to apply for a parental allowance. This, in effect, means that the one-parent family payment would cease to exist and cohabiting parents would have no disincentive to form families.
Your Editorial of July 10th suggested that these changes have already come into effect. But the wheels of change move slowly and we still await the implementation of these proposals. - Yours, etc,
MARGOT DOHERTY, Assistant Chief Executive, Treoir (National federation of services for unmarried parents and their children), Custom House Square, Dublin 1.
Madam, - Séamus Brennan's tenure as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism was too short to allow him to realise his vision for an inclusive and universally accessible distribution of the arts in Ireland, but he certainly succeeded in his brief tenure in reviving the somewhat sidelined access agenda.
Last February I attended the launch of the ESRI report on the arts, "In the Frame or Out of the Picture?", at which Mr Brennan delivered an impassioned speech deploring the fact that large sections of Irish society have no meaningful involvement with the arts, due to poverty or lack of education. It was intriguing to hear a Government minister express sentiments that were once the preserve of radical community arts activists and refer to engagement with the arts as a fundamental entitlement of all citizens and residents of Ireland. He said he had established a working group at senior level across all the relevant State agencies to ensure a joined-up approach to addressing this continued failure.
In that commendable speech and in a number of practical initiatives he had begun to introduce before his retirement, Séamus Brennan challenged not only the Government and the key State agencies but all of us in the arts. An apparently deeply-held conviction that a full cultural life is the fundamental right of all: this was his legacy from his final ministry. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. - Yours, etc,
DECLAN GORMAN, Upstate Theatre Project, Drogheda, Co Louth.
Madam, - The downright decency and tender tenacity of Séamus Brennan confounded the cynical and disparaging view of politicians. His energy and enthusiasm for campaigning and politics was displayed in his decisions to set up Ógra Fianna Fáil in 1975 and reorganise the party structure that held us together through turbulent and occasionally harrowing times. Having lived in Churchtown during my time in Dublin, I know the esteem in which he was held by his supporters and constituents. Our prayers and sympathies go to his family. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN JORDAN, PRO, Fianna Fáil Waterford Comhairel Ceantair, Viewmount Park, Waterford.