Madam, – A central point underlying Dan O’Brien’s article (Opinion, February 23rd) is the weakness of Ireland’s negotiating position in seeking to change the terms of the EU/IMF deal.
I strongly disagree with this view. In any negotiation one must seek to identify and, if necessary, use one’s ultimate weapon. In our case that weapon is the threat of a sovereign default. A default by Ireland (or any other member country) would cause a crisis of such magnitude as to threaten the entire euro zone The cost to Europe of accommodating Ireland’s needs will be a mere fraction of the cost and consequences of a general euro zone collapse. We are small and insignificant enough to be “fixed” at relatively minor cost and our negotiators, whoever they may be, must recognise the strength of our negotiating position and be prepared, if necessary, to take this right to the wire and beyond. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – One of the biggest impediments to Ireland getting a negotiated European resolution of the banking problem is the obscene level of pay, pensions, perks and golden handshakes being dished out to our failed politicians, bankers and senior civil servants.
German acquaintances of mine are flabbergasted at the scale of these sums in a country that is both bankrupt and on economic life support from the EU/IMF.
Germans see themselves as being prudent and disciplined; they resent their hard-earned savings now being squandered on the profligate and incompetent Irish.
Regional elections in Hamburg have highlighted this innate attitude, where the voters recently gave Angela Merkel a political bloody nose.
Any resolution will demand that lopsided austerity measures must be counterbalanced by substantial cuts across the higher levels of the public service appropriate to our current economic status and our ability to pay. At home, the new government would assuage much of the public anger by clawing back some, if not all, of these unsustainable payments.
We are in a state of emergency and suitable legislation should be enacted immediately to redress these immoral, unjustified and excessive payments, and at the same time, facilitate a speedy resolution of our debts. – Yours, etc,