Madam, - As an Irish citizen and taxpayer, the recent Budget is of massive concern to me, my wife and my young child. The Government's draconian response to the world recession will affect us on several levels from personal job security to underfunding in the primary school system. These are the major concerns facing us as a middle-class family living in Ireland and by extension the European Union.
Can someone please explain to me why I wake up almost every morning to hear the national broadcaster leading its news with reports on the US presidential election from correspondents dotted around the US?
I cannot vote for either candidate; I have no right to work or live in the United States, unlike the EU; and to even visit the US I need to apply for a visa.Thousands of "undocumented Irish" continue to be in a legal limbo in that country. The much vaunted US corporate interest in Ireland is precisely that - a corporate interest.
The next US president will not be controlling the boardrooms of major US multinationals. They are here because of our tax rate and should they choose to leave it will be nothing to do with Senators McCain or Obama, it will be out of corporate interest.
So why are my taxes helping to fund RTÉ's coverage of a US election in such minute detail? - Yours, etc,