Madam, - When Vincent Browne claims that every year 5,000 people die of inequality and deprivation ("Why being poor can kill you", February 20th), he is making the mistake of equating the sort of unsatisfactory lifestyles which very often lead to an early death with the related but different question of income levels.
As there appears to be a close connection between lower income groups and inadequate lifestyles it is easy to see how this confusion has arisen. In practice, however, what matters is less the precise level of income than the way any particular income is managed.
Unfortunately, since lower-income groups are more likely to live in neighbourhoods where the common level of social responsibility is fairly low, the incentive to use a small income to the best advantage is all too often missing. It is this social factor, I suggest, that plays its part in such things as the variation in death rates for lung cancer - "four times higher for the poorest compared with the richest".
The point I wish to make is - not surprisingly - made quite explicit by a recent study of alcohol consumption in the UK. This study found that those in the "harmful" category - consuming more than 50 units of alcohol per week - were likely to come from the poorer working-class areas. It seems unlikely that Ireland is very different. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL TATHAM, Harrold, Bedford, England.