Madam, – We need leadership. We need people who will step up to the mark when we are faced with adversity and disillusionment.
Last Saturday we saw such leadership – and it was from no politician or pontificating rock star, but from a national sporting hero, Ireland’s rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll.
He did not let us down. Ignoring his own obvious pain, he restored the confidence of his team and his country with a drop goal and try. This was leadership of the very highest level.
But Ireland’s victory over England was also a wonderful team effort. Could politicians please note this and perhaps drop kick inter-party pettiness in favour of building a national team? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Daniel Lowry (February 28th) sets out to “to expose the union-created myth of ‘low-paid’ public-sector workers”, but fails to produce the evidence. His assertion that public-sector workers receive on average 30 per cent more than their European counterparts is not supported. He quotes salaries for “average” teachers, nurses and gardaí but does not provide the figures for their German or French counterparts. And even if Irish public-sector workers are paid more than their European colleagues, this is a cause for celebration, not for griping.
Mr Lowry completely misunderstands James Connolly if he thinks he would turn in his grave at the prospect of working people, regardless of what sector they worked in, clogging the streets in defence of their conditions. What would most upset Connolly would be to see the people who produce the wealth and serve the public at odds with each other, while the bankers and property developers laugh all the way to and from the banks. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Ross Glacken’s letter of February 25th, asking that young, unemployed people like him be given the opportunity to provide some service to the State in return for their unemployment benefit, was little short of uplifting. Though not always an unquestioning admirer of the “young generation”, I found his belief in both the work ethic and contribution to society a breath of fresh air.
Contrast this with the pious, sanctimonious posturings of our union leaders, who are afforded altruistic guru status by much of the media, while at the same time they manage to obscure the fact that they are no more and no less than highly paid gunslingers whose job is to extract the best return for their members.
It’s a very nice line to maintain – to be seen to worry publicly about the economy and at the same time to encourage revolt against the organs of State which are trying to manage it; to constantly be seen to fret about the “low paid” while trousering director fees from state bodies. Talk about “running with the hare and hunting with the hounds”!
It is remarkable how little effect their presence had on the boards of Fás and the Central Bank. Where were the lofty dissenting voices and, yes, resignations when it mattered? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Now would be an appropriate time to seriously tackle the costs of running our democracy. TDs are among the best-paid public representatives in the world. They each represent far fewer people than their equivalents in similar-sized countries, and the (usually mostly empty) Dáil sits for less time than most other parliaments.
While there has been talk of pay cuts of 10 per cent, in my opinion this doesn’t go nearly far enough. I believe a pay cut of, say, 40 per cent would have the following benefits. It would save money. It would send out an important message that the political class are really serious about the scale of the problems that we face. It would make TDs less desperate to hold on to their seats at all costs, focusing their minds instead on making decisions that are in the national interest.
While a 40 per cent pay cut sounds draconian, it still leaves the base salary for a TD at around €60,000 plus expenses, ministerial allowances and pensions – not a bad package by most people’s standards. The alternative is to halve the number of TDs, which would have many of the same benefits. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Alan McPartland (February 26th) is undoubtedly correct in pinning blame for the worst aspects of the current economic catastrophe on Messrs Ahern, McCreevy, Cowen and Harney, but surely his list of culprits is too short.
We have had banking scandals before, seen golden circles uncovered, and been confronted with unseemly links between politicians and businessmen. Yet many politicians continued to command large majorities even when their dubious business or political practices had become notorious. Charlie Haughey, Michael Lowry, Beverley Flynn, Liam Lawlor, and Ray Burke were (or are) not only elected, but local heroes to boot. Many people now losing jobs and wages may curse Bertie Ahern, the banks and developers, but the same people applauded and voted for the culture they represented.
The Irish electorate must realise it has received no end of a lesson. We way think we can vote for the wide-boy culture promoted by Charlie Haughey, Bertie Ahern and the others, but inevitably it will come back to bite us. We have been fooled not only twice, but many times. Shame on us. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The extensive coverage the recession receives in the media every day only worsens the situation. Those predicting and publishing worst-case scenarios only increase the chances that these will come about. More emphasis should be placed on the efforts being made by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and his colleagues to improve the national finances, and less on what might happen if they fail. – Yours, etc,