Sir, – Recovering our economic independence has become a bit of a mantra from the Government. It is also a myth.
Reaching the magical 3 per cent deficit is not the end of our obligations under Lisbon and the Fiscal Compact. We are obliged to bring our debt to GDP ratio down to 60 per cent and to work towards a balanced budget.
Either a buoyant international economy will allow us grow our way towards those goals, or we will be stuck in the rut of further cuts and tax increases.
The precautionary line of credit from the troika is a sensible insurance policy in the event the world economy doesn’t come to our rescue. I can’t see that any conditions attached will be much different from what we will have to do in any case to meet our targets. We will have to have our budget reviewed and approved in either case.
It would be better if Minister for Finance Michael Noonan would stop the macho rhetoric about regaining our economic sovereignty and opt for the insurance of a precautionary line of credit. He has no right to gamble on international recovery at our expense. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT MURPHY,
Douglas Road, Cork.