Madam, – I don’t do apoplexy very often, but Minister Noel Dempsey’s accusation that the wrongdoers at Anglo Irish had engaged in “economic treason” left me seriously out of sorts.
Where is he living? What does he read? Who does he talk to? Is there some parallel universe he inhabits where the realities and truths of our present dire situation are somehow glossed over? I hold no brief for bankers or any others, but if Mr Dempsey cannot see and honestly admit that he and his colleagues in Government have been major contributors to our plight, then our outlook is bleak indeed.
Who presided over the squandering of significant budget surpluses over recent years? Who continued to provide incentives to developers even when it was clear that the incentives were significant factors in the high prices ordinary people were having to pay for housing? Who ignored the voices of common sense warning that major problems were looming? Who tolerated and oversaw a financial regulatory system which was seriously deficent? Who continues to act as though we had years to sort things out rather than weeks? Who can’t even do the arithmetic on cost reductions correctly? Who can’t structure the pensions levy fairly? Who seems incapable of understanding the palpable anger permeating Irish society at present, encompassing many who were previously apolitical?
Our collective greed and willingness to ignore reality has put us where we are, and we are all to blame to some degree — borrowers, lenders, media, politicians and unions. To me, one of the saddest things about the whole sorry mess is seeing the unions acknowledge the necessity for sacrifice, but being frustrated in their willingness to accept the principle of collective suffering by the cack-handed approach of the Government to the pension levy.
We need, if not a general election, a national government, income tax increases, including a level of 70 per cent or higher on incomes over, say, €300,000, and a revamp of the pension levy to make it fairer. We all – well, nearly all – recognise the need for sacrifice; it is time for total honesty and for deferring the blame game until we are on the road to recovery. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Tánaiste Mary Coughlan's remarks on Wednesday's Morning Irelandwere astonishing. By saying the public finances are "under control", she may as well have announced we were speeding down a hill and will now take our foot off the brake. Nothing could be more damaging to Ireland's reputation than such a complacent attitude from the deputy head of government. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It's now official! The Government does not know the difference between a percentage and a percentile. This was thoroughly demonstrated on Morning Irelandby the Tánaiste — the Government's second most senior politician — who repeatedly referred to percentiles when she apparently meant percentages. Perhaps this failure to understand the rudiments of mathematics explains the Government's singularly inept handling of the fiscal crisis it managed to create. – Yours, etc,
GUS MULLIGAN,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
A chara, – It's not so long since Brian Lenihan stood up in the Dáil to urge us all not to do our shopping in Newry as it was "unpatriotic". Yet now it emerges that his own party, Fianna Fáil, has hired a leading US firm to redesign the party's website (
The Irish Times, February 26th). This is the firm President Barack Obama hired to manage his web campaign on his way to the White House; perhaps Fianna Fáil, having more money than sense, feel this is the way to get some of the Obama magic working on its flagging poll fortunes.
The reality is that the FF website, while slick, could have been designed far more cheaply in Ireland, with all due respect to Blue State Digital. I have no doubt there are many web design companies in Ireland which would have designed as good a website without expending all those air miles. As for the Obama magic, it can't be bought. And if Fianna Fáil thinks it can, we're in more trouble than we know. – Is mise,
CONCUBHAR Ó LIATHÁÍN,
Cúil Aodha,
Co Chorcaí.
Madam, – In the past few months the Government has taken a series of steps to deal with our deteriorating budgetary situation. Each proposal has provoked an outpouring of cries from affected parties about sharing this fairly across the economy. In principle, it seems that no one has a problem with cutbacks as such, provided they are not personally affected.
It strikes me that our real problem might be an outbreak of TIFSE – take it from someone else! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I believe the implosion of the Irish economy has wider implications for the future of other Celtic nations and also for a United Ireland. As the only free Celtic nation, Ireland had a responsibility to prove to the world that the Celts could govern themselves effectively.
What chance now of people in Scotland and Wales voting for independence after seeing what has happened in Ireland? And what hope is there of unionists agreeing to a united Ireland when their prejudices about the corruption of Catholics have been affirmed so spectacularly. It seems that the individuality of Celtic people and their failure to act for the collective good rather than their own selfish interests has once again been our undoing. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I read with interest about the campaign to highlight U2's tax avoidance ( The irish Times, February 26th). There is, of course, a simpler way of protesting at Bono's double-speak about wealth being distributed to the poor. People can refuse to buy U2's new album, download their material or buy their concert tickets. Maybe then the message would sink in. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I have become increasingly incensed by the hypocrisy shown by unions and their members over the past few weeks. The unions’ major beef during the boom times was that their member’s salaries weren’t mirroring private-sector pay. So what’s the problem with their members taking a pay cut now? Everyone else is taking one.
They whine about property developers; but it was partly the revenue from the property bubble that allowed public sector workers to get such large pay increases in the past few years.
I myself was a bricklayer during the boom years. I now work in a call centre north of the Border taking calls about a toll road in Dublin and earning £5.75 an hour. The last real job I worked on in Dublin was a union job and I knew the Celtic Tiger was bound to become extinct due to union demands for ever more exorbitant pay for their members.
I grew up in Youghal, Co Cork. By the time I left school nearly every factory in the town had closed down; nearly everyone said this was due largely to unions’ arrogance.
I think it’s time people in Ireland woke up and realised that the unions are increasingly becoming a Trojan horse that will bankrupt the country if allowed to go on unchecked. I applaud Brian Cowen for trying to take the tough decisions that everyone knows are long overdue.
This is not a jealous rant against people with secure jobs; this is about decency and fairness for everyone. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Comparing Ireland’s present troubles to those of post-war Germany is going a bit far (Seamus Phelan, February 24th). And to claim that Germany’s “economic miracle” was achieved by political leadership and burden-sharing is to forget that Germany was occupied by four powers, one of which pumped resources into the western part of the country under the Marshall Plan to bring about reconstruction. Meanwhile, east Germany was stripped of the remnants of its industrial infrastructure by the Soviet Union to such an extent that even today it is heavily subsidised by taxpayers in western Germany.
Ireland’s present predicament, while not to be compared with post-war Germany, may also ultimately require an international solution. The crisis is global, so the response has to be global. What has to be avoided at all costs is a retreat into nationalism and protectionism – the very things that led to war. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – With the number of protest parades assembling at the gates of the Dáil increasing daily, might I suggest that now would be the ideal time to pedestrianise Nassau Street, Kildare Street and Molesworth Street in Dublin city centre?
This would allow the dissenters of the day the maximum protest space required without inconvenience. Futhermore, no extra deployment of gardaí would be required to seal off these streets to traffic (unless they are the ones doing the marching), so we would reduce the Garda overtime budget and the strain on the public purse.
Finally, the reduced carbon emissions in the Dublin 2 area would be a crumb of consolation to Green Party members in Government as they listen to the angry wails of the disaffected public wafting in through the windows. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I commend the suggestion by Ross Glacken (February 25th) that young people who are made redundant should be gainfully employed in structured community service in exchange for social welfare payments. But I do not see why such a programme should be confined to the young. I believe that in these straitened times, all able-bodied people in receipt of welfare payments should be required to give some small contribution to society.
In recent years there has been a remarkable fall in participation in voluntary community activities. Mr Glacken’s proposal, if implemented, might help to reverse that trend and create the bond that will help us through these grim times. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – We need a statesman of international reputation to take over the role of financial regulator – someone who has a healthy distain for banks but is familar with large cash transactions. Bertie Ahern, anyone? – Yours, etc,