Sir, – Stephen O'Byrnes (Letters, November 12th) is quite right to call out Joe McHugh, Donegal TD and former cabinet minister, for his irresponsibility in seeking to burden the public purse with a blank cheque for the mica redress scheme.
It is only fair to point out that another Donegal TD and current Minister is guilty of the same nonsense. While I suspect he will get little thanks for it, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue came out in favour of 100 per cent redress while not having the foggiest idea as to the cost this might involve for the State. And this last point is not a criticism. Nobody knows the cost of acceding to the demands of the mica campaigners.
You have reported that the campaigners have made a “final demand” for 100 per cent redress, a 40-year State guarantee and a public inquiry and you quote their representative: “We really feel as if we have come to the end of the road in terms of negotiation. This is our final position.”
A demand (not a request, mind you) that the taxpayer should assume a financial obligation the cost of which will not be known for 40 years is as close as one could get to a perfect definition of an open cheque book.
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If Mr McConalogue and Mr McHugh are in the business of calling for blank cheques to be written on behalf of the taxpayer, they should stay on the backbenches or join Sinn Féin where that is daily-articulated party policy.
– Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN
Mooncoin,
Co Kilkenny.