Sir - What a fiasco. What a laughing stock we must have been in the eyes of the World. Berlin, Sydney, Tonga, Auckland, and so on showed how to organise a celebration while poor little Ireland sat at home watching how it was done elsewhere. Our Government set up a Millenium Committee which, among other inexplicable things, gave £700,000 to a rehashed Messiah and £1 million for candles which few people seemed to cherish or light, but they could not organise a street carnival worthy of the unique occasion. And the fireworks seemed to be designed for the seagulls along the coast. Is there no imagination left in our society or are we only hellbent on making more and more money? Where were Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and the many other cultural groups on this island? Were they given any money by the Millenium Committee or were their views on celebration even sought? And as for RTE, I am afraid the effort - if it could be called an effort - was little short of pathetic. The lead-up to the midnight hour was but a poor imitation of the Late Late Show and indeed would have ranked poorly on an ordinary Friday night.
Where were the outside broadcast cameras? I saw little of what was taking place around the country or in Dublin but then, perhaps, nothing may have been happening? If the answer to this absence of coverage is that RTE staff wanted to celebrate the New Year at home with their families, then why bother with a national television "service"? Why not close it down on these occasions and let the BBC and Sky show us how our British neighbours celebrate. It appears that these stations made the appropriate effort to give a service to their customers.
Have we lost the will and ability to organise a celebration? We got better yardage out of Jack Charlton leading his soccer warriors back from Italy. What a lost opportunity! - Yours, etc.,
Dermot Scully, Cairn Hill, Dublin 18.