Madam, - A great leader once said that war was too important a business to be left to the generals. Surely one of the main lessons of the past few weeks is that banking is too important to be left to the bankers.
For the future, we clearly need a Financial Regulator that is a rottweiler, not a poodle. - Yours, etc,
MAURICE KING, Inistioge, Co Kilkenny.
Madam, - It is clear that our friends in the banking world are not going to learn. First we had the crass stupidity of Michael Fingleton Jnr of Irish Nationwide touting for business on the strength of Irish taxpayers' money. Yesterday we read that Mr Sean Fitzpatrick of Anglo-Irish Bank was calling for the Government to tackle the "sacred cow " of universal child benefit, state pensions and medical cards for the over-70s.
Someone should tell Mr Fitzpatrick that these benefits are all paid for by taxes from ordinary citizens - people with whom, I suspect, he rarely mingles. Coming from a man who heads a bank that almost failed last week, his comments are - to put it mildly - breathtaking.
He would do well to re-read Prof Ray Kinsella's article of last Friday in which he suggested that bankers should remember who got them out of this mess of their own making (the taxpayers) and act accordingly. Apologies all round would be a good start. - Yours, etc,
VALERIE CANNON, Terenure, Dublin 6w.
Madam, - It is good to see that the chairman of Anglo-Irish Bank, Seán Fitzpatrick, still sees fit to offer the Minister for Finance advice on what to put in next week's budget. I'm glad he doesn't feel that the near collapse of his bank and the requirement for the taxpayer to bail him out should prevent him from suggesting that the best things for the country would be a cut in corporation tax, a reduction in children's allowances, a reduction in the state pension and restrictions on the medical card scheme.
Perhaps Mr Lenihan might also consider another suggestion for the budget - a tax on arrogant bankers. - Yours, etc,
DIARMAID MAC AONGHUSA, Shankill, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Of course the banks must shoulder some of the blame; so too must the Government and the auctioneers and mortgage brokers. But I never saw anybody with a gun being held to their heads to force them to take out a 100 per cent mortgage or to buy their fourth or fifth apartment.
A sizeable majority of middle-class Ireland wittingly participated in the property orgy over the past 10 years that was essentially fuelled by greed. Most of us were complicit; most of us had our heads in the trough. - Yours, etc,
DAVID P. JAMESON, York Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, - While the decadence of recent years passes away before our eyes, we ought to ask questions about the dogs that didn't bark in the night. Why did the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the Department of Finance stay almost silent throughout the slowly gathering debacle?
It is no answer to claim they didn't have the traditional intervention instruments of setting national interest rates, controlling money supply, or varying currency exchange rates. At the very least they possessed the immense prestige of state institutions. They could have told the banks to behave prudently.
The Spanish authorities, operating in precisely the same regulatory and market conditions, chose to carry out their functions and now have salvaged much more at minimal cost and risk.
The current attempts to claim a sort of meteorological defence must be rejected. What happened was not an act of God or some unforseeable financial heavy weather. It was a clearly impending calamity whose effects were compounded by unmitigated system failure across the national regulatory system. - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Oh, what a shame! I missed it: the graceful full-page "Thank You" in Friday's papers from the banks and institutions whose jobs and companies were saved by the Government and people of Ireland.
It must have been quite touching to read. - Yours, etc,
CHRIS WOOD, Cluain Mhuire, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, - As a relatively small investor in the market, I would like to hear the Financial Regulator explain in detail the basis for its constant reassurances over the past 12 months that Irish banks were well capitalised and in sound financial health.
Can it be possible that the regulator's reports were issued to shore up eroding market confidence rather than to offer objective analysis of the financial health of the banks in Ireland? The events of last Monday night answer that question for me.
Will there be a state bailout for the thousands of small investors who accepted the regulator's word as truth and held on to their shareholdings, unlike the market professionals? - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN DOYLE, Ard Rí, Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Madam, - The bold decision to guarantee the Irish banking system must be applauded. However, a guarantee is a contract, involving something given, in return for a value received.
One can only hope that, in return for the bailout received, the banks now accept that they now owe us, the Irish taxpayers (and their customers), something in return.
I hope the banks now recognise that the Government, representing the Irish people, now has an interest in their affairs and how they conduct their business in the future. I also hope the Government will not be shy in exercising this right, should the need arise.
What if my bank should, in the near future, inform me of a significant increase in its charges? As a taxpayer, have I not already bailed the banks out? Or should I also be expected to fund continued dividends as well? - Yours, etc,
SEAN BELLEW, Upper Faughart, Dundalk, Co Louth.