Sir, - In 1989, my son boarded a plane to work in England. He had no choice. It was a sad day for him and for the rest of my family. I had paid my taxes. We had a tribunal which discovered widespread irregularities in the beef industry. The main culprits were not even charged, let alone jailed.
In 1999, we have discovered widespread tax evasion. Will any of the soidisant elite tax-dodgers be charged with theft? I have no doubt that someone will. I have no doubt that a society which can jail a snatcher of handbags is perfectly capable of jailing a housewife who tried to hide her pin money from the revenue.
In 1989 the cuts in the health service - of which C. J. Haughey apparently was not aware - "hurt the old, the sick and the handicapped". I was employed in that same health service and continued, like thousands of others, to pay my taxes. The son who went to England is now a nurses. He will not be back. Had the thieves - whose share I paid - paid their fair share, it is not inconceivable that my son, and thousands of others, could have learned their skills in Ireland. While politicians spouted about the "small island", people died while on hospital waiting lists. They still do. Young people who emigrated stayed away. They still do.
On the eve of the last year of the century, I ask our elected legislators three questions:
1. Will you ensure that there are no more thieves' charters?
2. Will you apologise to those whose relatives died while on hospital waiting lists? These lists were created by a lack of funding, which in turn was created by a lack of political will to tackle thievery.
3. Will all tax thieves be charged with manslaughter as well as theft?
Answers on the back of a postage stamp, please. - Yours, etc.,
Tony Canning, Meadowbank Park, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
PS: I am now retired for health reasons. I still pay my taxes.