Sir, – It is most curious that Sean Ó Riain ("How to avoid the mistakes of the Celtic Tiger", Business, May 29th), should, in his quest to remake Irish society, seek to enhance markedly the power of the State which so actively encouraged the misguided investment in property development which has resulted in our present financial penury.
His oblique reference to the narrowness of our tax base obscures the fact that enabling his desired level of public spending and investment would necessitate the levying of far higher taxes on those on low to average incomes. Furthermore, it is worth asking why the European social model which he holds in such high esteem would have encouraged the investment of so much private European capital in Ireland as opposed to in their own economies.
Although Mr Ó Riain notes that public-sector employment has shrunk since 2008, he declines to mention that the far more precipitous declines in our GDP and private workforce have made the public sector account for a far larger proportion of our economy than it did in 2008. Has this realignment of wealth in our society made the readers of The Irish Times feel any more materially or socially fulfilled than they were in 2008? – Yours, etc,
JACK COSTELLO,
Armstrong’s Barn,
Annamoe,
Co Wicklow.