Sir, – Such a shame that all those people “went mad borrowing” and brought the country to its knees (Front page, January 27th). Does anyone know who was kind enough to lend them all the money? Perhaps we need a tribunal to find out. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Arising from the Taoiseach’s interview at Davos, I expected your Front page headline to read, “Nation in shock as politician tells the truth”. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Our Taoiseach has told an audience in Davos how we, the ordinary people, lived it up during the Celtic Tiger. Has he forgotten or was he not aware that in May 2006, the Central Statistics Office stated that 741,000 or about 38 per cent of the workforce were engaged in the low-wage sector of the economy? This figure did not include the black economy. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Everybody knows that there was far too much irrational borrowing taking place during the Celtic Tiger years, so I fail to see why the Taoiseach should be criticised for referring to “mad borrowing” at the World Economic Forum by the Opposition TDs Niall Collins and Pádraig MacLochlainn (Front page January 27th).
Property development speculation during those years represented a gold-rush mindset akin to the spectacular frenzy for tulip bulbs that took place in the Netherlands in the 1600s; and all citizens now have to bear the brunt of this burst bubble.
I fail to see why the Taoiseach should be criticised for calling it as it is. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Have Troika-invested waters resulted in Enda Kenny developing the memory of a goldfish?
A mere seven weeks since his state of the nation address where the Irish people were told the financial crisis was not their fault, an international audience of economists at Davos are told that Ireland’s problems are a result of “people going mad with borrowing”.
Mr Kenny’s contradictory explanations of Ireland’s financial travails at home and abroad represent a cynical strategy to extol domestic and European audiences in order to maintain popularity on both fronts.
We elect government to govern and regulators are appointed to regulate. Above all else it was the failures of both executive and financial oversight that has resulted in the mess which Ireland now finds itself in. The failure to identify the primary culprits for Ireland’s woes to an international audience at Davos and instead to suggest that the Irish “people” bear a collective equivalent responsibility is a despicable public betrayal of the Irish nation; for shame! In the words of Robert Burns, “Such a parcel of rogues in a nation”. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The claim by Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness that Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s credibility has been damaged following his comments made at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland is laughable. If our country has credibility issues they were created by 14 years of Fianna Fáil- led government. Deputy McGuinness should be reminded that Irish people are not stupid – nor do they have short memories. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The concern about Enda Kenny’s remarks at Davos is the poverty of analysis and thinking that it reveals. No mention of the catastrophic failure internationally of the ideology of market-driven corporate capitalism which unfortunately remains the conventional wisdom. No mention of the failure of politics and regulation, of the professions, of the universities and intellectual engagement, of the media, of a culture of cronyism, dependence and intolerance of challenge.
The problem is that Mr Kenny’s thinking drives Government policy. It appears that the lessons of failure have been ignored. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The people who kept voting Bertie Ahern in again and again and again are now upset that they have been described as having gone “mad borrowing” by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Truth hurts! – Yours, etc,