A chara, – I agree that our EU dream has not quite gone to plan, when value of fishing rights conceded are taken into account we were already on the red side of the EU balance sheet before any bailouts are considered. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Anthony Leavy (November 30th) is right in observing the importance of stabilising the euro. But Fintan O’Toole’s point (Opinion, November 29th) is that the EU’s current strategy will not achieve that.
O’Toole has in fact recently suggested in these pages (Opinion, November 15th) a practical plan for saving the euro as outlined by Prof Yanis Varoufakis. It is misguided of Mr Leavy to be so dismissive of O’Toole’s concerns, just as it is for him to suggest we should be “Holding up our hand, acknowledging our past mistakes and being responsible for them”.
These are not our mistakes. They are the mistakes of a corrupt banking sector whose debts the previous Government took on without our consent or consultation. This old standard of “We all partied; now we must take our medicine” is inaccurate, facetious and hinders true solutions to this economic crisis. – Yours, etc,