Madam, - Brian Lenihan need make no apologies for introducing a tough Budget. But would it be too much to ask why the 1 per cent "levy" on all income was preferred to a simple adjustment of income tax rates? The former is no more temporary, and certainly much less equitable, than the latter.

The depressing answer is political expediency. Mr Lenihan wishes to look the nation in the eye, remind us that he did not raise income tax, and expect us to be grateful. And he is willing to use the wages of the low-paid and working poor to pay for the privilege.

The only "vulnerable" people he appears to care about are Fianna Fáil TDs and councillors. - Yours, etc,

TOM FARRELL, Glenbeigh Park, Dublin 7.

Madam, - What a pity the Minister for Finance's party neglected its patriotic duty for the past 11 years. Instead of looking after the interests of those who voted for it, it served those who bankrolled it. It was, in effect, the political handmaiden of those who have now laid waste to our environment and our economy. Those who made tens of millions over that time can continue to eat, drink and sleep comfortably while the old, the sick and the poor have been given "a call to patriotic action" to pay for the recession. - Yours, etc,

OLIVER ROGERS, Rahardrum, Virginia, Co Cavan.

Madam, - What a sad Budget from a mean-spirited Government which is now taxing the poor, the sick and the elderly. Will the last person leaving the country please remove the traditional light bulbs and replace them with energy-efficient ones, please? - Yours, etc,

PATRICK O'BYRNE, Shandon Crescent, Phibsborough, Dublin 7.

Madam, - The extension of the medical card to the over-70s has been one of the more enlightened measures of recent years. A number of studies, including the first Irish longitudinal study on ageing (HESSOP-2), have shown marked improvement in preventive healthcare uptake following this development, including 'flu vaccination, blood pressure control and cancer screening. Many of these measures will reduce the burden of stroke and heart disease, and reduce both personal suffering and societal healthcare costs.

Older people are also the most likely to suffer from chronic disease, and new thinking on chronic disease management places much emphasis on timely and frequent use of primary care, not only to improve health and well-being, but also to reduce more costly hospital use. In an era of trolley waits and crowded AEs, everyone benefits from this. There is also the issue of the wide range of services needed for staying at home with chronic illness, including therapies, medical appliances and domiciliary oxygen, which are linked to the medical card. It is challenging to maintain an official policy of maintaining older people in their own homes without these supports.

Older people are already significant contributors to their own and others' care. The first Irish longitudinal study on ageing also showed that they are currently paying for aspects of their care as it is (despite the medical card, and the second-highest risk of relative poverty among older people in Europe), and are also major providers of care for other older people. Evidence and common sense points to the efficiency of facilitating good health in this population.

Means-testing will inevitably erode the benefit of the scheme and probably cost more in global terms than the cost of providing the medical card to the relative minority of more affluent older people. In any event, along with all of the population, this minority would be entitled anyway to all medication costs of greater than €100 a month, and are also likely to have private insurance to cover the cost of big-ticket items such as surgical procedures.

The removal of the medical card entitlement for the over-70s is both a false economy and a further erosion of intergenerational solidarity. - Yours, etc,

Prof DESMOND O'NEILL, Director, Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin 24.

Madam, - Several years ago the now discredited Fianna Fáil minister, Ray Burke, had trees planted in a Dublin housing estate just before an election to help him win votes. As soon as the election was over, the trees were removed, and the story has become famous as a symbol of the "cute hoor" Fianna Fáil politician.

In recent years the Fianna Fáil government gave medical cards to the over 70s. Now, after winning two elections, the medical cards are removed.

As long as the people of this country allow themselves to be duped time and time again by this sort of stroke politics, we deserve exactly what we get. - Yours, etc,

P.J. GRIFFIN, Ardeevin, Lucan, Co Dublin.

Madam, - I suppose it didn't even occur to Brian Lenihan to impose a windfall tax on the excessive bankers' bonuses that helped cause the economic collapse in the first place. - Yours, etc,

HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.

Madam, - The Budget represents a massive failure to govern and to address the greatest cause of waste and inefficiency in our country today — the public service. By avoiding this challenge he has clearly demonstrated that the Fianna Fáil politicians who posture as political leaders are not really in charge; the public service is pulling all the strings. It has held on to benchmarking; it has grown to gross proportions and it is answerable to nobody.

I vividly recall hearing Mary Harney proclaim in Limerick at the launch of the PDs in 1985 that her top priority was reform of the public service to make it an efficient instrument of the Irish people, with an appropriate sense of mission and an ability to deliver. Since 1989, Mary Harney has served in senior government positions for 14 years over a period of unparalleled inflation of personnel, cost and inefficiency in the service.

This Budget has all the markings of public service personnel dictating that its protected status will not be up for change; that reform is a figment of the politicians' imagination and that whoever will be asked to bear the burden of the problems we face it will not be them. - Yours, etc,

LIAM MEADE, Ballyneety, Co Limerick.

A chara, - The Budget was supposed to bring radical measures to deal with severe national and global problems. Were the banks, whose irresponsible practices led to the financial crisis of two weeks ago, taxed even one teeny little bit? No. Were the speculators who have driven land prices to super-inflationary levels taxed ever so slightly? No. Was income over €120,000 put into a third tax bracket of 50 per cent? No.

So what was the Government's radical proposal? A 1 per cent levy on all income up to €100,000 and a 2 per cent levy on income above that level. Therefore a person on the minimum wage, earning €360 per week will end up paying a levy of €3.60. That's the price of two loaves of bread, which is how money is measured when you are at the bottom of the income ladder.

On the other hand, someone who earns €360 a day (€1,800 a week) will pay €18 per week, still leaving a gross salary of €1,782 per week. Fair? Equitable? Radical? Republican? - Is mise,

PADRAIG MANNION, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow.

Madam, - Instead of taking a cut, would the Government not consider taking a hike? -Yours, etc,

PAUL DELANEY, Dalkey, Co Dublin.

Madam, - Truly we are a very docile people. The dominant political party has behaved in a profligate manner with our resources and has used our unaccustomed wealth in craven attempts to bolster its political position and its chances of re-election — videits gross favouring of developers, its ridiculous decentralisation proposals, the quangos, the consultants, the advisers and the costly Dáil committee talk-shops. That party's offhand carelessness and lack of application also precipitated the Lisbon Treaty referendum defeat, still lurking off-stage to batter us still further.

Were our rebel spirit still alive, were we to give justifiable expression to a well-grounded rage at how we have been abused and betrayed, we would opt for one of two traditional options. The real choice should be to hang them now or to give them a fair trial and then hang them. I support the more straightforward option.

The brazen, arrogant ones say they are not to blame. The schoolyard excuses abound - it wasn't me, it was the banks, it was the American subprime market, etc, etc. The craven morons should stand up and take the hit. Instead, we are now taking their hit. - Yours, etc,

COLM MULLEN, The Warren, Malahide, Do Dublin.

Madam, - Thank you for carrying the diary of Orla Tinsley (Opinion Analysis, October 14th). It would make the stones weep. And then angry. Angry at the imbeciles who clog up AE departments because they drink too much; angry at whatever bureaucracy and/or vested interest is holding up proper reform of the health service; and angry at gombeen politicians who play games with people's expectations, for example by making casual announcements of non-existent plans for specialist units. - Yours, etc,

SEAMUS McKENNA, Farrenboley Park, Windy Arbour, Dublin 14.

Madam, - I would like to congratulate Orla Tinsley for her starkly honest article on the experiences of the chronically and terminally ill in Irish hospitals. She illustrates simply and clearly the lonely, disquieting world of those patients who are assimilated and marginalised, however unintentionally, by an unwieldy system. - Yours, etc,

ADAM TRODD, Stillorgan Road, Co Dublin.

Madam, - Orla Tinsley's article embarrasses us all. Where are the rest of us, while she and countless others continue to suffer? Her bravery highlights most people's apathy. Our health service is a disgrace to us all, and we are tolerating it much too quietly. - Yours, etc,

ROSEMARY MacCABE, Oughterard, Straffan, Co Kildare.

Madam, - Both David Jameson and James Brady (October 14th) base their comments solely on the basis of an unrepresentative, affluent small minority of students. While there will always be a subset wealthy enough to own "Abercrombie and Fitch tracksuit bottoms" or a "Mercedes cabriolet", the overwhelming majority of students still live on very basic means and do not have much money to spare.

While such well-off students could likely afford fees, the majority of students will find the reintroduction of fees an encumbrance, if not a total barrier, to receiving third-level education. This is the real issue and it should not be made seem frivolous by facetious anecdotes about a handful of rich offspring.

While I believe there are good arguments on both sides of the fees debate, and that such discussion is necessary in times like these, the spurious reasoning of Messrs Jameson and Brady does nothing but needlessly trivialise the matter. - Yours, etc,

MATTHEW HARVEY, (UCD psychology undergraduate), Ailesbury Grove, Dublin 16.

Madam, - For some time now it has been almost impossible to withdraw the desired amount of cash from ATMs in Ireland.

On countless occasions when I wanted withdraw an amount that was not divisible by 50, I have been asked to select another amount, presumably because the machine in question issued only €50 notes or had run out of €20 or €10 notes.

While in another EU country recently, I had the refreshing experience of withdrawing €90 which was dispensed in the very civilised arrangement of a €50 note, a €20 and two €10 notes. Isn't it time our banks enabled their customers to withdraw precisely the amount of money they require, instead of foisting greater amounts on them? - Yours, etc,

ANGELA McKENNA, Artane, Dublin 5.

Madam, - I noticed on the front page of your edition of October 13th a rather cheery and warm picture of a happy priest and his parishioners as he blessed pet owners and their dogs at a Dublin parish church.

Speaking on radio at the weekend a pet lover said this was to celebrate the bonds of affection between animals and their owners. I am all for inclusiveness, but does this not highlight the adamant dismissal by the mainstream churches of any suggestion that they should bless the bond of affection between two humans of the same sex? - Yours, etc,

Senator DAVID NORRIS, Seanad Éireann, Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Madam, - Bravo to Senator Shane Ross for calling for the resignation the CEO of the Financial Regulator.

The regulator's ineffectiveness is astonishing. If it were an ostrich nothing would show above ground.

As for the bankers themselves, I suppose there is no possibility of them accepting responsibility or accountability as their brethren have done in the UK. Integrity is not a concept that clouds the greedy horizons of the Irish banking Sector. - Yours, etc,

RICHARD HOLLINSHEAD, Hazelhatch Park, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

Madam,- With the half-hearted appeasement measures now in place to shore up the rotting financial system, global policy-makers from Washington to Berlin have shown themselves to be weak-minded, spineless and myopic. This should come as no surprise, since it was the same people whose lack of foresight got us into this mess in the first place.

The partial nationalisation of banks now under way will neither give governments the necessary leverage to truly "fix" the banking sector, nor will it allow markets the opportunity to purge themselves of the sickness created by poisoned financial instruments.

Instead, it will perpetuate the cycle of reckless speculation, while punishing the real economy and the taxpayer for the indiscretions of the rich.

Financial institutions must be allowed to fail. Banks must be let go bust, and those who let greed guide them into making investments they did not fully understand should have to pay the price. This is the only way to ensure these mistakes are not made again.

Re-regulation is not the answer to anything. Regulation, in any form that distorts the price of risk (loan guarantees, deposit guarantees, mandated lending criteria), will just stifle markets.

What is needed instead is transparency. Banks must be forced to bare their balance sheets to all stakeholders - in other words, publish everything on their websites, for all to see. Then the market could tell who is carrying the bad loans long before those loans get to be so big they threaten the system.

If that, and only that, had been insisted upon by financial authorities even five years ago, we would not have seen this financial crisis happen.

The proper role of those in the financial sector - supporting the real economy - is well understood. But for years, they have taken much too much cream off the milk for what they give us, using opacity to weave an ever more tangled web of financial gimmickry, which we then had to pay them to decipher.

Now that they've been caught in their own web, we have an opportunity to reconstruct financial capitalism so that it fulfils its functions of money creation and risk pricing in a transparent and cost-effective way. - Yours, etc,

GRAHAM STULL, Brussels, Belgium.

Madam, - In August 2006 the International Monetary Fund published a report entitled "Ireland: Financial System Stability Assessment Update", revealing that the banks' total provision for loan losses as a percentage of total loans more than halved between 2001 and 2006 while annual credit growth rates almost doubled.

The report drew attention to the concentration of property debt as a likely major problem in the event of a credit contraction. It recommended that the Central Bank update its stress-testing methodology. In the sweetest of ironies, the report is available on the Financial Regulator's website. - Yours, etc,

JOHN HARPUR, Trim, Co Meath.

Madam, - Ruarc Gahan's disgust at the use of animal vivisection for the benefit of mankind is somewhat ridiculous (October 15th). While he describes humans as "perhaps the most greedy, destructive and murderous species on the planet", he also forgets that we are the only species that troubles itself with the notion of ethics.

I doubt that Mr Gahan's sympathies towards the animal kingdom would be reciprocated in a situation where he could be of use or benefit to a particular animal. Furthermore, does he really believe that a tiger, gorilla, rabbit, or snake, if given the abilities bestowed upon us, would not reap the bounty of this earth and advance itself beyond its natural state? Would it be preferable if innocent people died or were injured in the name of medical progress, rather than animals?

Anyone who enjoys a steak, wears leather shoes or drinks milk with their tea accepts that animals, though deserving of a certain amount of our respect, are subservient to people.

I'll gladly review my position the next time an antelope or cockroach writes into this newspaper in defence of me. - Yours, etc,

JOHN POWER, Connolly Gardens, Dublin 8.

Madam, - The report on the official opening of the Mayo Peace Park in your edition of October 8th failed to convey the symbolism of the event and omitted some key facts.

The countries with which Irishmen and Irishwomen were involved during the first and second World Wars - often making the ultimate sacrifice - were not only represented by the Australian ambassador, but also by the British, Canadian and Belgian ambassadors. Germany, the United States and France were also represented by their embassies. - Yours, etc,

ROBERT DEVRIESE, Ambassador of Belgium, Dublin.