Madam, – Has Brian Cowen not got even one close friend or political colleague with the guts to take him aside and tell him a few home truths? Such as: If he is to survive as a political leader, he will have to accept that the paramount blame for the near bankruptcy of the country lies at the door of the Government which he and his discredited predecessor have led (or misled) for so long. Then he must summon up the courage to take a deep breath and manfully make a full public apology to the nation for the disaster which they and their developer/builder/banker cronies have brought on us.
Next, and this is absolutely vital, he must announce without delay that he and his fellow politicians will take a sizeable reduction in their outrageously excessive incomes. The paltry 10 per cent which some have already grudgingly surrendered cuts no ice with a nation enraged as never before.
When that is done he may find that Seán and Mary Citizen may be more willing to take their share of the pain which is, without doubt, going to traumatise us all for many years to come. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey had some brass neck denouncing the sins of the banking fraternity when he rallied the faithful at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis. Maybe he was on Mars for the past 10 years when successive finance ministers – Charlie McCreevy and Brian Cowen – let the bankers run amok. There was no sign of of Dempsey the attack dog then.
We need fewer bellicose statements and more by way of a collective government apology. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I read the report on Noel Dempsey's speech to the Fianna Fáil faithful with some incredulity ( The Irish Times, March 2nd). It now seems that for the last 25 years the Fianna Fáil party has accepted donations from developers with one hand outstretched while the fingers of the other hand held an ever-growing nose. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I was relieved to read that the Minister for Sports and Tourism, Martin Cullen, escaped injury when a door fell off the helicopter in which he was travelling. However, in these frugal times, shouldn’t the servants of the State go by train?
The journey from Killarney to Dublin takes three-and-a-quarter hours. This would allow ample time to read in its entirety any report that may cross the desk of a Government minister. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Is Mr Cullen’s helicopter a flying metaphor? First the wheels come of the wagon of our economy, and now the door comes off the helicopter. It’s definitely time to ground Fianna Fáil. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I was greatly relieved to hear that Martin Cullen had escaped injury after the door fell off the Army Air Corps helicopter in which he was travelling. One does wonder, however, if travelling by taxpayer-funded helicopter to a hoteliers’ conference is a wise use of scarce resources in these straightened financial times for the Government, never mind the cost to the environment of these thirsty machines. I wonder how our soldiers in Chad feel about this as they struggle to get by two hired Russian helicopters with questions over their certification and suitability? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Despite media reports implying otherwise, an examination of Noel Dempsey’s speech at the FF ardfheis suggests that his references to “economic treason”, “reckless endangerment of a nation” and damage equivalent to that perpetrated by Cromwell referred only to “one of the banks”.
Clearly there is a view, which the media to an extent is feeding, that all Irish banks and their respective boards bear complete responsibility for the current banking crisis in Ireland. I would like to make the point that the fiduciary duty of the directors of a bank is to act in the interests of the company as a whole. In Ireland, this term has been interpreted to mean acting in the interests of shareholders. The interests of employees are included to an extent, but the interests of a wider range of stakeholders, such as customers and the marketplace, have largely been neglected in Irish company law.
This is often justified on the basis that no system of corporate ethics exists to give directors a basis for competently making distributional decisions for society and it is argued that in any case it would be inappropriate for issues of social policy to be determined by companies. Such issues are categorised as political issues which are more appropriately considered by the democratically elected and democratically accountable.
Legislative inadequacies exist. For example, tighter laws are needed to deal with related party transactions, risk and corporate transparency. In this respect, the responsibility for the current crisis must be shared. To suggest otherwise will obfuscate the problem and impede our progress towards introducing the necessary regulatory reform.
In my opinion this, rather than “heads on blocks” (which may be more in keeping with Cromwell’s own enforcement strategies), will improve our country’s international reputation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – While I thoroughly enjoyed Newton Emerson’s tongue-in-cheek article regarding working women and the recession (Newton’s Optic, February 25th), I feel there is an element of truth behind the satire. When Charlie McCreevy introduced his pernicious policy of tax individualisation he discriminated against single-income families and forced many mothers out of their homes and away from their children.
This policy may have satisfied the labour needs of the Tiger economy, but the circumstances we face today surely demand a re-think. Is it fair that some households have no earned income so that mothers who would rather be at home be kept in the workforce?
Surely, in a climate of rising unemployment, it would make sense for the Government to ensure that as many households as possible are supported by a working parent, rather than have some households with two incomes, and others surviving on social benefits. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I have waited in vain for a deluge of letters in support of Tim Pat Coogan’s observations on “pruning our puffed-up political system”, which appeared in your edition of February 21st.
This piece should be required reading for every worker, public and private, so that they can compare and contrast their own pay and work schedule with that of their political masters. Politicians should lead by example – Yours, etc,.
MICHAEL J. RYAN,
Cratloe,
Co Clare.
Madam, – Last year the Minister for Finance advanced the 2009 Budget by three months as the Government’s main response to the emerging economic crisis. He indicated in his Budget speech that the economy would decline by less than 1 per cent and unemployment would average 7.3 per cent in 2009. If these figures justified an early budget, surely the expected decline of over 6 per cent in the economy for 2009 and an actual unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent for last December justify immediate budgetary action rather than a 15-month gap to the next budget.
The Government has insisted that top earners pay the most tax and that large numbers of people don’t pay any tax. According to Revenue’s statistical report for 2007, 661,000 tax cases had gross incomes of less than €15,000 a year and, as might be expected, paid minimal taxes totalling €14 million on gross incomes of €4,744 million. If, ignoring the social consequences, their effective tax rate of 0.3 per cent could be increased by 10 percentage points to 10.3 per cent, an additional €474 million would be raised.
At the other end of the spectrum, 81,000 people had incomes of over €100,000 a year and paid taxes totalling €4,353 million on gross incomes of €16,065 million. If their effective tax rate of 27 per cent increased to 37 per cent, a total of €1,606 million could be raised.
Surely it is unnecessary to wait for the Commission of Taxation’s report to see that, in this time of crisis, tax rates should be increased as soon as possible for those with the highest after-tax incomes. – Yours, etc,