Madam, - Fintan O'Toole suggests (Dec 9th) that investment from Ireland in UK property assets "is obviously a bad thing. The huge outflow of funds affects Ireland's balance of payments".
Oh dear me. Fintan misses the point that the investors in the go-cart track in Beddington (which he instances) presumably expect a return from their investment. This will probably be repatriated, thus assisting the balance of payments.
He makes a further giant leap when he suggests that the justification for largish wealth "is that those who have it will use their spare cash to invest in businesses, encourage new ideas and thus create jobs and further wealth".
Well, no actually. You could do that if you wished to but you could also spend the money on drink, stash it in a mattress or buy an ostentatious villa in Marbella. This phenomenon is known as freedom. - Yours etc.,
P.D. DOYLE, Clontarf Road, Dublin.
Madam, - As entertaining as the spat between Messrs Myers and O'Toole might be, it is an ultimately fruitless argument. Mr O'Toole's criticisms of the tax breaks provided by the Minister of Finance are like a sports reporter complaining that a player in a game of rugby was breaking the rules of soccer. Mr McCreevy plays by a set of rules different from those espoused by Mr O'Toole.
Mr McCreevy, like Mr Myers, is a laissez-faire libertarian and pursues policies in accordance with that vision. Mr McCreevy's vision is not that of a social democratic welfare society; if that is what is desired then its advocates need to organise to elect a government that will work for such a society. - Yours etc.,
IAN POULTON, Killiney, Co Dublin.