Sir, – I heartily endorse Mairead Hickey’s well-argued letter in support of our national orchestras (Letters, December 18th).
That our country, with a GDP of around €250 billion, seems to be unable to support two professional orchestras, is a shocking indictment of our values.
This situation is put in even more stark relief by the Credit Suisse report of November 2016 which estimated that 169,000 Irish people were in the top 1 per cent of global wealth in 2016.
Rather than call on our Government to solve this problem when it has other very serious calls on its finances, isn’t it time for some of these multimillionaires to step up and support the arts with private sponsorship, and lessen our shame in the international community?
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This is what enlightened people in other countries do. In the immortal words of former rugby captain Ciaran Fitzgerald: ‘Where’s your f***ing pride?’ – Yours, etc,
PAT McLAUGHLIN,
Drumcondra, Dublin 9.