Sir, – The “dominance of Dublin”, which Simon Coveney is set against, combined with the resultant decay of many Irish towns and villages, is due to the rejection by the Dublin civil service of the devolution scheme proposed by the late Tom Barrington, first director of the Institute of Public Administration. Barrington advocated the devolution of many central government powers to regions and districts. In Germany, to cite a contrary example, where all parts of the country enjoy wellbeing, decisive governing power is shared by 16 federal states and all substantial towns. This is reflected by the fact that the country’s five principal newspapers are located in five different cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich. Mr Coveney would do well to take inspiration from Tom Barrington’s writings and from Germany. – Yours, etc,
Dr DESMOND FENNELL,
Dublin 4.