Madam, - Benchmarking, together with the Taoiseach's fawning veneration of trade union big guns, is crippling our economy.
As unemployment rises and growth rates decline, benchmarking is swallowing up €1 billion a year. What myopic "leadership" chained our economy to the shackles of a pay deal that offers reward before productivity?
Apologies if my interpretation of healthy competition is confused, but surely the future prospect of economic reward ought to provide an incentive for workers and management to improve work practices and productivity. To encourage a child to eat its greens a parent promises ice cream for desert. If a parent stuffs it with sweets before dinner its appetite is spoiled.
This country needs real leadership to stand up to trade union godfathers and reverse this ridiculous deal. - Yours, etc.,
LUCINDA CREIGHTON, Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2.