Letters: No all Ireland any time soon

I visited Dublin last week with an appropriate open mind, enjoyed the atmosphere, good company and the Guinness but here are my conclusions:There will not be a united Ireland any time soon because I felt like I was in a foreign city unlike my previous visits to the United Kingdom mainland.Secondly, I have travelled all over the world but have never witnessed begging on such an industrial scale and so many paper cups held aloft.Having said that, I made a point of wearing my poppy throughout the day and encountered no hostility.Thirdly, a Houses Not Tents protest opposite the General Post Office proclaiming the Republic of Ireland a failure was hugely ironic.And finally, a pint of Guinness and a glass of Pinot Grigio set me back by eighteen euros.

Alan S. Carson, Castlereagh, BT5