Sir, – It is wonderful to see an Irish taoiseach lead the EU and a source of pride to see Enda Kenny address and be taken very seriously by the British prime minister and Britain's financial establishment (Business, March 12th). It is sad, however, to hear the old fallacy that it was all "Fianna Fáil 's fault" repeated. Fianna Fáil contributed greatly to making a difficult situation immeasurably worse, but was not the prime mover in the unprecedented situation that developed in the first decade of the 21st century. The catalyst for the bubble, the debt, the collapse and the present austerity is much greater and more fundamental than Fianna Fáil mis-government.
World economic conditions have been transformed in the last two decades or so. Where once there was inability to ever produce enough, there is now potential to produce everything to gross surplus. Where once there was necessity for increasing human labour to increase production of anything, there is now an unprecedented reduction of human labour needed despite increasing production. These two reversals of historic economic conditions have caused market chaos, massive unemployment, unrepayable debt and impossibility of growth. They are core problems that affect every economy on Earth, but are not as yet recognised, discussed or addressed.
It may be politically satisfying to blame the previous administration for our ills but while this perception persists and the fallacy continues that this is basically a financial problem there is very little hope of recovery. The world of economic activity has been transformed by massive advance of technological capability and it is time the political and economic establishment began the immense task of adapting to it. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIC NEARY,
Tubbercurry, Co Sligo.