A chara, – I agree with Paul Doran (March 13th) that this appointment is “very senior and influential” in our State. However, rather than negative quibbling at this stage, and for all our sakes, let’s just wish John Moran, the new secretary-general of the Department of Finance, every success in his challenging new job.
As a former senior civil servant, I’m well aware of the responsibilities and powers of his high office, probably the most important job in the country. A predecessor, TK Whitaker (appointed when he was 39), alongside Taoiseach Seán Lemass, turned the lost decade of the 1950s, when emigration was also rampant, into the economic success story of the 1960s and beyond. Is féidir linn! – Is mise,