Sir, – Has The Irish Times become a bit or totally unhinged?
Your editorial of February 15th ("The Irish Times view on artists' incomes: pay them fairly") proposes that artists should be paid fairly for the work they do. Indeed.
You go on to suggest that they “should be told what that pay will be and given a contract”.
But what of an artist who produces work that no one wishes to buy or to own?
Who, exactly, is to give the contracts you mention, and pay the pay you suggest?
Should I declare myself an artist and demand an income?
No. Someone will have to like what I do, pay for it, then I get an income.
I am all in favour of art being subsidised for the benefit of all. But you need to give it a lot more thought.
And I am glad of the eccentricities of The Irish Times. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN DOYLE,
Dublin 3.