Bureaucracy can be good for the nation’s health

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern wasreferring to what he saw as unnecessary delays in the Irish planning and environmental control systems in January 2005, when he said: “I would like to have the power of the mayor of Shanghai … I would like that we can get through the consultation problem as quick(ly) as possible”.

One wonders if he still holds the same views following the World Bank study which concluded that environmental pollution in China causes 460,000 deaths annually in that country (Irish Examiner, July 4).

Derry Chambers