Madam, - While the debt levels of Irish households have certainly grown rapidly in recent years, Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, November 20th) makes an inappropriate comparison to US households.
While American savings rates of the latter group have dwindled to near zero in recent years (US households have been labelled the global "consumers of last resort"), the savings rate of Irish households has been remarkably high and much of the debt taken on by Irish families has been to fund property and financial assets rather than personal spending.
While high debt levels carry plenty of risks - especially when credit conditions tighten, as at present - it is a misreading of the boom years to argue that the increase in personal resources were frittered away.
Of course, there remains a very important debate about the appropriate scale of Government spending and the level of efficiency in delivering public services, but that should not be confused with a dispute about the relative wisdom of personal expenditure and savings decisions. - Yours, etc,
PHILIP LANE, Professor of International Macroconomics, Trinity College, Dublin 2.