Sir, – I am becoming increasingly fed up with the sympathy being shown to people who gambled on property and lost. Eighty to 90 per cent of us did not. Should we also feel so desperately sorry for people who lose their wages in Paddy Powers or online poker?
If anybody should be showing sympathy to property gamblers it is the banks who wildly oversold the benefits. However, under the hopelessly irresponsible Fianna Fáil governments of recent decades, such a practice was encouraged. And, according to the taoiseach of the time, if you were even remotely sensible and felt that the financial lunacy was very foolish, you should commit suicide.
Gamblers and the people who encouraged the gambling need to look at themselves and this government needs to look at all of them very closely. Then they can all stop banging on the four million decent and sane Irish people. – Yours, etc,