Sir, - Amid all the reports of boom and bloom, I am grateful to Mr McNulty (letters, December 28th), for highlighting one of the most serious structural deficiencies in the Irish economy. He defends the fact that 40 per cent of the total Irish pension fund assets of £16 billion are invested outside Ireland.
The Minister for Finance, we are told, believes the figure to be 50 per cent. In addition, we learn from Mr Timmons of AIB Capital Markets (December 29th) that 50 per cent of the investment of the leading companies on the Irish Stock Exchange, is invested outside Ireland.
What would the long-term implications of these percentages be, if Irish governments decided not to compensate for them by importing (begging) investments from the US and elsewhere? Would pension-holders retire in a healthy and vibrant economy, or would they find it necessary to follow the lead of the pension-fund trustees and retire to countries where prudent in vestments had created more pleasant conditions?
About one hundred years ago, Arthur Griffith reminded us: "If we do not support the Irish workshop, we must support the Irish workhouse." The pension-fund trustees leave us in no doubt as to where they stand on the Irish workshop. - Yours, etc.,
Ardnataggle, Bridgetown, Co. Clare.