Sir, – Seeing as the Irish political commentariat failed so badly to anticipate the US presidential and congressional election results, perhaps Agent Cobalt could be prevailed upon to explain why the hoped for “blue wave” failed to materialise for the Democrats? – Yours, etc,
JAKE WALSH,
Clogherhead,
Co Louth.
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Sir, – The economic consequences of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election are very negative for Ireland.
Mr Trump’s corporate tax plans, personal tax plans, and import tariff plans will significantly incentivise senior executives of large American companies to shift operations back to the US. Ireland has a clearly defined reliance on the corporation tax and personal tax paid by these companies and their high-earning employees – the top 5 per cent of taxpayers here will pay 48.5 per cent of all income tax and USC collected this year, for example.
As we enter the general election campaign, all left-wing parties in Ireland are in favour of even higher taxes on those executives and their higher-earning employees based in Ireland, as well as all other higher-earning tax payers.
Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party are all in favour of further taxes on those who already pay the most.
The largest of these left-wing parties, Sinn Féin, plans to remove the Special Assignee Relief Programme (Sarp). Sarp provides tax relief for certain people who are assigned to work in Ireland from abroad. Sinn Féin also plans to remove tax credits on incomes above €100,000 and introduce a new 3 per cent tax on incomes above €140,000, increase employers’ PRSI for higher earners, reduce the standard fund threshold for private pensions, and increase the rate of capital acquisitions tax to 36 per cent. Sinn Féin also says it is in favour of a new annual wealth tax, a tax that is likely to drive investment and wealth out of our highly open economy.
Following Mr Trump’s reelection, Ireland’s left-wing parties must reassess their tax-and-spend plans and surely must at this time see the unnecessary self-inflicted risk in making Ireland even less attractive to high-earning executives and employees. Corporate board rooms this morning will certainly reassess their thinking as they examine the implications of the US presidential election outcome. International capital is highly mobile; so too are high-paying jobs. High personal taxes make Ireland uncompetitive and damage Ireland’s ability to retain and compete for highly skilled employees and the investments they bring here. – Yours, etc,
MARK MOHAN,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – Your editorial description (“The Irish Times view on the US president-elect: Trump redux, Trump unbound”, November 7th) of Donald Trump as “ever more uninhibited and erratic with age” would be less ironic if not placed opposite Fintan O’Toole’s bizarre diatribe against him (“Trump’s openly authoritarian instincts are about to be unleashed”, Opinion & Analysis, November 7th). – Yours, etc,
Dr DAVID WOODS,
Department of Classics,
University College Cork.
Sir, – Following the decision of the US electorate to re-elect Donald Trump, I’m startled by how shocked many of us are.
It’s very clear a huge proportion of the electorate there feel pressure financially. Mr Trump had the benefit of not being around to mop up after Covid, deal with energy supply shortages, food shortages, etc, so yes – the perception that people did better under him, whether valid or not, is pervasive.
I detest him, by the way, and many of those around him. What I can try to understand, however, is, for somebody trying to put food on their kitchen table, or someone close to retirement age weary from having to take on a second job to pay their health insurance, the frustration with a system where they felt unheard, ignored and possibly a sense of it can’t be any worse.
We now have our own upcoming election, and I hope that both our politicians and electorate are willing to listen to each other.
We are not as far removed from the US as we might like to think. Many of us are also disgusted with the waste of our hard-earned tax; struggling to reconcile RTÉ bailouts with record child homelessness; millions spent on mobile-phone pouches while children in those very classrooms are in need of a special needs assistant, or children needing an actual place in a school; the OPW not being held to account or responsible for a ridiculous overspend on a bicycle shed; and despite the billions of euro thrown at it, the state of our HSE; the unsafe scenes at our hospitals, and waiting lists that continue to rise – one child in pain awaiting surgery is too many.
Many of us here are frustrated with the lack of an alternative approach.
I would respectfully ask all politicians and canvassers to listen carefully to the people you engage with over the next few weeks; and please do not arrive at our doors with your biographies. Bring a plan. A credible one. – Yours, etc,
JOANNE SHEAHAN,
Blackrock,
Cork.
Sir, – Which party will promise to “Make Ireland Great Again”? – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – I find it extraordinary that journalists in your paper who demonstrably had no clue which way the wind was blowing on the US election have confidently picked up their pens to tell us what is going to happen next. At least three of Thursday’s articles hint at a prescience that if it were matched by genuine foresight would be actually useful. – Is mise,
DARA O’DONNELL,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – The address of US vice-president Kamala Harris after her election defeat was the antithesis of the toxic rhetoric of Donald Trump: articulate, dignified, compassionate, inclusive, respectful, uplifting. Her unequivocal acceptance of the result of the election, her commitment to the peaceful transfer of power, and her expression of loyalty to the constitution of the United States stand in stark contrast to Mr Trump’s response to defeat in 2020 and to what his response would have been if he had lost this time around.
Unfortunately, Ms Harris had only 107 days in which to run her campaign for the presidency. I hope that her commitment to continue to fight politically for what she believes in means that her concession speech marked the first speech in her campaign to become the 48th president of the United States. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS FITZPATRICK,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Given America has now officially lost its mind, can we count on Europeans to step up, and ditch fossil fuels like our lives depended on it? – Yours, etc,
DAVID O’GORMAN,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The best thing for Ireland for the next four years is to keep our heads down and hope Donald Trump doesn’t notice how much American corporation tax we are taking. – Yours, etc,
JASON FITZHARRIS,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Bye-bye Bidenomics. – Yours, etc,
JOHN DEEGAN,
Kilbeggan,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – Why do Irish media outlets insist on talking down to us as if all Irish people were fully paid-up members of the US Democratic Party? – Yours, etc,
AIDAN COYLE,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Donald Trump has not seized power so much as ridden a tidal wave of discontent, the root causes of which need to be addressed, or it will be his brand of politics for the foreseeable future. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT CHESTER,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – We were led to believe by all the opinion networks that the US presidential race would come down to the wire and that there would only be a half per cent in it and the seven US swing states were going to be cliffhangers. We again see how wrong the polls were. One wonders why we even bother with them. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’BRIEN,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.