Madam, – I felt your Editorial of March 17th hit the nail on the head: for every greedy, reckless banker there were five greedy, reckless middle-income homeowners who made a valiant attempt to become millionaires via cheap credit and the property market.
It would be a shame if citizens did not reflect on their own bad judgment during the boom. The country’s a mess, but let’s at least learn one important lesson: in the long run, one should not expect to make money out of nothing. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Before the April 7th budget all Government ministers and all TDs receiving pensions and extra remuneration from any source, public or private, should publicly disclose these. Senior civil servants and bankers should do likewise. They should then say how much of a reduction they are prepared to take prior to the bitter pill we, the taxpayers, are facing in three weeks’ time. – Yours, etc,
Madam, — Like Vincent Browne (Opinion, March 18th), I too would relish fleecing the super-rich to make them share the pain of restoring order in our public finances; but I’m afraid that, like the like-minded Garret FitzGerald, he is pathetically naive.
Our super-rich are not likely to be nearly so numerous and rich in the coming years. And besides, if I may vary the metaphor, many of them are not sitting ducks waiting to be plucked. They, above all, can relocate readily to more benign climes.
Dramatic cuts in public spending at all levels, beginning at the top, still remain our main hope of restoration. That is where “Is féider linn” can be more than cheap rhetoric. – Yours, etc,
Madam, Your edition of March 18th reports that only 1,500 over-70s have declared that their income is above the limit for medical cards. It would be interesting to know how many of them are in the PAYE system and how many are self-assessed. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – We’ve been reminded a couple of times in recent weeks that almost 40 per cent of the 2.4 million income earners in the State are entirely exempt from income tax. Is this the same 40 per cent who keep voting for Fianna Fáil to ensure they keep this handy arrangement going?
While democracy brings certain rights to all citizens, does it not also bring the same responsibilities to everyone, not just the other 60 per cent? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – David Beggs, whom I respect and admire, wrote in your paper recently that Ireland’s reputational crisis is the direct result of the actions of senior banking personnel. Agreed. I am sure he is also aware that this particular crisis will be immeasurably aggravated if we indulge in a spree of strikes. I hope he will use his influence to avert this. – Yours, etc,