Sir – In advance of another horrible budget (is this the third or fourth one in a row?), battle-hardened all the more by being subject to the insult that is individualisation, I wish to use this opportunity to thank my intelligent, self-sacrificing and hard-working wife for continually ensuring that our family lives within its means. Full-time motherhood was rejected by the State, but it is my cornerstone. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Perhaps the Government is unaware that there is a feeling of strong resentment building up in the country. Because, while most people understand that the Government is between a rock and a hard place with the economy and that more cuts do have to be made, it is where they fall, and the disproportionate effect on lower income households, parents and State pensioners that arouses this resentment.
Talk to anyone feeling the pain of recession and they will ask why their incomes should be pared right back to the bone while the middle and upper income groups get away so relatively lightly? The AB social groups can always cut back on non-essentials, not so the C1s, C2s, Ds and Es. And when it comes to TDs, Ministers, bankers and property developers, the very people whose greed and neglect caused and exacerbated the present situation, all still living high off the hog – ordinary people are positively incensed at the injustice of it.
Because many, if not most, lower-income households have already taken such a big drop in total incomes that it now means poorer food, colder houses, fewer car journeys, no money for school trips and events, a constant struggle to pay their bills, and very meagre Christmas to come. Yet the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the unwillingly unemployed did not cause this recession – so why should they bear the brunt of the consequences? I’m no socialist, I’m all for private enterprise and a meritocracy, but it seems to me that those who enjoyed most of the fruits of the Celtic Tiger boom should be those who take most of the pain now.
So this upcoming budget should not be just about the total tax-take, or the total savings achieved, it should also be about natural justice, fairness and a certain visible sharing of the pain all round.Because, if lower-income families and State pensioners are hammered again, people will not forgive the party that does it, and there is another party waiting in the wings which will readily promise them the fairness they deserve. – Yours, etc,