Madam, - Please terminate the so-called debate on the State's guarantee of the banks. The contributions you print do little, in the main, to elucidate - and generally repeat deeply held but shallowly analysed and quite unjustifiable prejudices against banks and bankers.
They also show a profound ignorance of the causes of the Irish banks' crisis and seem to prefer to focus on the salaries earned by some bankers, even though the total of those sums is minuscule in the context of international — or even Irish — bank difficulties.
It might be interesting, though, to hear from one person who was forced by a bank to borrow a sum that he actually didn't want, or who refused to purchase a property for investment or dwelling because it was so obviously overvalued and built to the standards of a 17th-century Dutch tulip. Could we also hear from someone who considers a man to be overpaid who earns less than the writer?
Lastly, could these apostles of whinge give a thought to the image they portray of the Irish as a bunch of vindictive hypocrites,which runs counter to the earnest efforts of the tourist board. - Yours, etc,
NATHANIEL HEALY,
Newcastle,
Co Wicklow.
***
Madam, - It took vision, great courage and pragmatism for the Taoiseach and the Minister of Finance to introduce measures to support the Irish banking system. Within a matter of days after initially expressing disapproval, Angela Merkel of Germany took a similar course of action, which has since been followed by many other European countries. A small country, tiny in global terms, was in the vanguard in protecting its citizens.
On Wednesday in the Dáil, the leader of the Labour Party was harassing Mr Cowen because the conditions under which State support will be provided have not already been published. Isn't it obvious that it will take days, or even weeks, before all the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed to give maximum protection to Irish taxpayers? The Taoiseach will make haste as slowly - and that should be recognised as being cautious and prudent.
While my knowledge of banking or the world of shares is minuscule, the current crisis is a global one which will take a long time to resolve. Banking will never be as it has been up to now. This is not the crash of 1929, so there is no road map. The economies of the world are in uncharted waters. I would have thought this was blindingly obvious.
In the meantime, let's get on with it. Nuclear bombs are not being dropped around the world! A lot of innocent victims will suffer, unfortunately, but I am confident countries and economies will survive. It cannot be otherwise. - Yours, etc,
Dr GERALDINE BROPHY,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
***
Madam, - I recently re-read an article about the Wall Street crash of 1929, written by the renowned economist J.K. Galbraith about 1965. At the end of the article he asks, "Could it happen again?" - and he answers the question thus:
"Of course! On the assumption that history does not repeat itself precisely, we may never again see the particular lunacy of the late 1920s. But if we survive to suffer such things, we can undoubtedly count on some variation. The time to worry will be when important people begin to explain that it cannot happen because conditions are fundamentally sound"(my italics). - Yours, etc,
GERRY WHEELER,
Ennistymon,
Co Clare.
****
Madam, - Why do we lay the blame for the present economic crisis at the door of the speculators, big business and banks? It is their job to make money, as much money as possible for themselves and their companies. They have no obligation to look after anyone else.
It is the duty of the Government of the day to look after and to protect the interests of the people of the country. There has been an abysmal failure by the Government of the past two to three years to provide that protection. The Government actually encouraged this rush to disaster.
Step forward the Taoiseach, Minister for Finance and Cabinet of those years. - Yours, etc,
TOM RYAN,
Dunmore Road,
Waterford.
****
Madam, - Patrick Honohan writes (Opinion, October 8th) that banks need large injections of risk capital to resolve the crisis. This is not enough. A key factor in the global banking crisis is the lack of clarity about the true state of bank assets and hence the reluctance or refusal of banks to lend to each other. This problem has emerged in the context of the global credit boom of the past ten years and the trend towards increasingly complex financial and banking assets.
The banking crisis can only be resolved when banks can be confident that they know the true state of the assets of their banking counterparts. The onus is on the appropriate regulatory authorities (financial regulators, stock exchanges and commercial regulators — e.g. the Companies Office) to ensure that the next audited accounts of banks provide a true and fair accounting of assets, including any effective impairment of loans and significant fall in the value of collateral.
Worldwide, regulators need to consider whether there is a need for special audited interim balance sheets of banks to facilitate a proper functioning of the interbank market. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN LYNCH,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
***
Madam, - I see the Labour Party is proposing that senior bank executive pay should be linked to that of the Finance Minister.
I have an even better suggestion. With naked capitalism in disarray, let's have a national maximum wage. This should be set at X times the minimum. Such a scheme would provide a constant incentive for the high earners to campaign for an increased minimum wage. - Yours, etc,
JAMES MORAN,
Knockanure,
Bunclody,
Co Wexford.
***
Madam, - Let me be the first to congratulate John Gormley on his leadership of the most ineffective Government coalition partner ever. Since the advent of the current economic crisis, the junior Government partner has hardly been seen or heard of. Are the Greens running scared of the issue, or is this simply confirmation of what many people believe: that they are a fringe party with a single-issue platform, who are incapable of the general pressures of Government?
With the imminent demise of the Progressive Democrats, one must wonder if the right coalition partner has been dispensed with? - Yours, etc,
PATRICK CARROLL,
Glendown Park,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
***
Madam, - I find it exceedingly disconcerting to see all those staunch advocates of laissez-faire economics crying all the way to the bank. - Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Beacon Hill,
Dalkey.