Madam, – In its moment of difficulty, Ireland requires principled men of good will to grasp the opportunity to infuse political and fiscal stability into the body politic. The three Irishmen who can provide this leadership are Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore.
In extraordinary times the unthinkable becomes thinkable. The three main parties of the 30th Dáil should stand by the Republic they have moulded. The time for partisan party politics is over for now. The time for national consensus and collective leadership is upon us.
The prescription is straightforward: taxes must rise and public expenditure must fall in ways that are both efficient and equitable. Do these three men have the courage and conviction to match the needs of the Republic and its citizens in its hour of need? The clock is ticking; others are waiting to perform a more painful infusion if they fail.– Yours, etc,
Madam, – The message of Peter Sutherland’s article in yesterday’s edition was hopeful: if we act now we can get out of this recession. We don’t need to wait for the report of the Commission on Taxation. The Government appears to be tramautised into inaction. We citizens need to know know in detail what its plans are, but everyone knows broadly what needs to be done:
1. Increase taxes now. Don’t wait any longer.
2. Introduce a property tax, particularly on second and third homes.
3. Freeze pay increases for three years.
4. Freeze social welfare increases for three years.
5. Reduce the capital Programme by €2 billion to €3 billion.
6. Continue to look for savings in the HSE.
7. Reintroduce third-level education fees.
All of the above are awful but necessary. Finally, has An Bord Snip gone to ground? We need its proposals now. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As the visibility of economists in the media appears to be inversely proportionate to the health of the economy, it might be useful for ordinary punters to have some sort of guide to these pundits.
I therefore propose that we establish an index – let’s call it the Apocalypse Index – for ranking economists. It might run from one to 10. On this scale, UCD’s Morgan Kelly would score an emphatic 10. Alan Ahearne would be close behind on nine, followed by George Lee and Jim Power at perhaps 8.5.
Pat McArdle might score eight. More positive or phlegmatic harbingers of doom such as David McWilliams or John Fitzgerald would score about seven. Alas, with Dan McLaughlin seemingly in self-imposed purdah, it is hard to think of an economist who currently scores less than five.
Citizens who want to know the depth of the recession could then multiply each economist’s ranking by the amount of airtime or number of column inches they occupy to get a measure of how bad things really are. – Yours, etc,
Madam, — I agree with Shane Hegarty (February 21st) that the media cannot talk us into recession, but at times data relating to the economy are not put in context.
Take the Live Register, which is a claimant count. It does not measure unemployment, as it includes casual and part-time workers and never went below 150,000 even at the height of the boom when labour was scarce.
The actual level of unemployment is derived from the Quarterly Household Survey, as clearly stated by the CSO in the Live Register release (the latest survey covering the fourth quarter of last year is due for publication on Friday). So it is not true to say, as is often repeated of late, including in foreign media, that the current unemployment figure in Ireland is 326,000.
The unemployment rate in January was 9.2 per cent, according to the CSO, and if we assume that the labour force is still around 2.1 million, the level of unemployment in January may have been around 190,000.
It is certainly the case that unemployment has risen sharply, but the Live Register should not be quoted as the level of unemployment. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is quoted in your edition of February 23rd as referring to leading bankers who also held directorships in other sectors. It was incongruous, he said, that people who had presided over “huge failures” in one area were able to maintain their positions in others.
As one responsibility of the Central Bank is to contribute to the maintenance of a stable financial system in Ireland it is clear that the bank, in this regard at least, has failed. As David Begg is listed as a director of the Central Bank, is he to be an exception to the incongruity he himself has identified? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – My suggestion to help with the crisis in the public finances is to abolish the Senate. Perhaps this would require a referendum to change the Constitution, but if we were to tack on the proposed second Lisbon Treaty vote on the same day, the joy for the citizenry at the removal of this utterly wasteful talking shop could get both proposals through. - Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am fed up to my back teeth with all the bickering between the Government and Opposition parties in this extremely difficult period for our country.
Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore are spending too much time trying to find out who is in the “circle of 10” when they should be doing their utmost to try and help get the country up and running again. Surely it is time for a National Government to come together for the next few years to listen to advice freely given by many experts and find a constructive way forward.
Politics being politics, I have no doubt that if Fianna Fáil was in opposition now it would be carrying on just like the present Opposition parties; but I strongly urge all TDs to put the past behind them in the interest of the country. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Young, recently redundant people like myself should have the option of being gainfully unemployed by providing structured community service in exchange for social welfare payments.
The standard weekly social welfare payment for a single male is roughly €204. I and many others would happily work 20 hours a week at €10 per hour for the benefit of community and state development. The areas where we could contribute are endless – eg, local refurbishment and upkeep, teaching professional skills to others, park gardening, cleaning, running errands for elderly or sick people, etc.
Such a scheme would give the Government a bang for their buck and people like myself could feel we are helping get the country get back on its feet, rather than seeming to be a drain on the nation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Would it not be a good idea to make the Lotto more in tune with these times? Instead of one person winning, say, €2 million, there should be 20 winners of draws of €100,000 each. Imagine what this could do for 20 families.
This might well stave off some home repossessions. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Was it not an unfortunate contrast that on the day the term “heroes” was used with with wilful abandon, and its meaning lowered into this sickening mire, Christy Nolan, one of the few true modern Irish heroes, should pass away? – Yours, etc,