Sir, - Who is running the country? The banks, the individuals who consider themselves free to frame their own laws, or a democratically elected Government? An inordinate pursuit of personal wealth has seeped into our society, but even this pales into insignificance in the light of recent allegations of tax frauds and bank loans written off for apparently well-off people. One man got his hall door broken in over a bank debt. A mother got six months prison for stealing a chicken to feed her starving children. The gross injustice is nauseating. What is to be done?
Our democratic Government should exercise its power at once. People who arranged large bank loans to be written off should be questioned closely regarding their motives and prohibited from holding high office if satisfactory answers are not obtained.
Secondly, the alleged tax fraud monies should be returned quickly to the economy and distributed to the poor and needy.
Thirdly, the alleged State offenders should be brought to justice, but this could prove difficult. The response of the politicians up to now has been abysmally depressing - full of righteous indignations in an unseemly scramble for instant justice. Do they not realise that any ill conceived remark at this stage may only give ammunition to the array of top tax accountants and high powered lawyers who will be trotted out to defend these allegations?
Fourthly, if those alleged tax evaders are found guilty - after the rule of law and due process has been most meticulously observed - the appropriate punishment should be implemented. If this means custodial sentences as well as fines, so be it. - Yours, etc.,
Ted Murphy MD, Taylors Hill, Galway.