Sir, - Am I correct in my belief that all revenues, however collected by the Government, remain the property of the people, to be used for the running of the State? Is it becoming accepted practice that such monies comprise a ready fund for politicians for any purpose whatever?
By what right, either moral or legal, may ministers spend £11 million on personal public relations boosting? This is a worthy proportion of the cost of the long heralded new tramway system. It is three times the original cost of extending the DART beyond Bray. By what right was a quarter of a million pounds given to Croke Park, or several thousands for the staging of a boxing match?
Is public money also a fund for the aggrandisement of the offices of ministers, expensive cars, liberal rise of helicopters and jet aircraft? When we witness the outrageous amounts spent on useless junket trips. politicians' expenses, and so on and on, it seems that we have lost sight of reality.
Surely it is pertinent to remember that the money spent by the Government on the divorce referendum was held by the courts to have been illegally spent. Is it likely that another challenge may be made regarding the uses or public money?
As regards the cost of ministers, surely the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, must be the costliest in the history of the State. Imagine what a Labour government would do for us. The operative word is indeed DO for us. - Yours, etc.,
Wilson Road,
Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.