Madam, - I have read with some amusement the letters of July 27th seeking to divorce Charles Haughey and Fianna Fáil from any credit for the introduction of fiscal policies that helped create the Celtic Tiger.
John Walsh refers to the national debt between 1979 and 1982 in an attempt to damage Mr Haughey's credibility. I would like to pose a similar question: What happened to the national debt between 1982 and 1987?
Most of those who seek to attack Mr Haughey's record on the public finances are bitter at the fact that he tackled these issues in 1987. They are especially bitter that Garret FitzGerald, who was elected on this very platform in November 1982, failed to tackle them for five years and made the situation worse.
The fact that this was the last time Fine Gael won a general election is another cause for much ire against Mr Haughey and Fianna Fáil. Perhaps because of the record of that lethargic government, Fine Gael, the proud party of fiscal responsibility, has remained in opposition for all but two-and-a-half of the past 18 years.
Maurice O'Connell appears to be labouring under the belief that the opposition directly influences government policy. He attacks Mr Haughey's actions in opposition as if he personally blocked attempts by Dr FitzGerald to reform the economy. Dr FitzGerald had a working majority in the Dáil for five years; it's a pity he didn't use it to effect change.
Alan Dukes is to be credited for acting in the interests of the State by supporting Mr Haughey's minority administration, an innovative act for a leader of the opposition. I find it rather sad, however, that while members of Fine Gael hold him up as the best leader of their party in the past 20 years he was never Taoiseach - and was knifed in the back by his own colleagues for supporting Fianna Fáil.
Perhaps it is the actions of Haughey from 1987, in contrast to those of FitzGerald from 1982 to 1987, which lead many to realise that Haughey did make changes to the public finances that benefited the economy in the long run and laid the foundations of the Celtic Tiger. - Yours, etc,
CONOR KEELAN,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.