Madam, - I am singularly unimpressed by the Government's - and in particular the Taoiseach's - lack of leadership during this period of great risk to our way of life. All we hear from the Government are carefully crafted utterances, presumably drafted by the Department of Finance mandarins who should have been regulating the banking sector properly in the first place.
People need strong, unequivocal leadership in times like these and the comfort of feeling that the people running the country actually know what they are doing. I have no such feeling! Is it not time for the Government to look outside its traditional reference points to some real expertise in economic matters, including both national and international economists, financiers and industrialists?
I note that at his first press conference as president-elect, Barack Obama presented an impressive panel of economic advisers, primarily from the private sector. He knows he doesn't have all the answers himself.
I have no confidence that a solicitor and a barrister (the Taoiseach and Minister of Finance) are properly qualified to deal with these extremely complex matters, especially as they both come from a discipline hardly famous for its economic prowess! - Yours, etc,