Sir, – Noel Whelan makes a profound statement about what happened to this country when he tells us that "showtime" and "auction politics" ended "when the floor under the Celtic Tiger collapsed with the fiscal and banking crisis in 2008" ("No time for showtime politics in lead-up to budget", Opinion & Analysis, September 5th).
During the years of the boom the message from many quarters was that everything was getting better and there was virtually no downside. In addition, during the years of the consequent austerity, the message from sometimes the same quarters was that there was no need for all this doom and gloom.
Both messages were wrong.
Now that a “fragile recovery” is being talked about, Mr Whelan is right to warn all not to repeat the “auction politics” messages and “to stay away from the politics of showtime”. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Shielmartin Drive,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.