Sir, - Despite my reluctance to enter into a never ending correspondence with my good friend Dr Garret FitzGerald, I must (not for the first time), correct his penchant for rewriting history and point out to him that he is simply wrong in his reply to me (July 12th) when he claims that our expenditure ceiling has been redefined since the election.
I am enclosing for your attention a copy of the relevant page of the Fianna Fail Election Manifesto 1997 under the heading "Bringing costs back under control", which has the following paragraph:
"We will limit the annual growth in net current spending (post-Budget), including debt servicing, to 4 per cent, until Exchequer borrowing is eliminated. Assuming inflation of around 2 per cent, this limit could still allow a real annual rise in spending on services of around 2 per cent."
My party launched its manifesto on day one of the campaign (Friday, May 16th). I am sure that even the most biased anti-Fianna Fail reader - and even Dr FitzGerald - will concede that nothing is plainer or more fully defined than the aforementioned paragraph. Indeed, if I had wanted to display ingenuity, as now alleged by Dr FitzGerald, I hardly would have explained in detail in the Fianna Fail Manifesto what I meant by net current spending.
I am also enclosing for Dr FitzGerald's perusal a copy of the relevant section of the Fianna Fail/ Progressive Democrats agreed Action Programme for the Millennium, which reiterates as a commitment the limit on net current spending of 4 per cent.
Would it be too much to ask for an apology from Dr FitzGerald for grossly misrepresenting me without properly studying the facts? As for his partisan political charge that we intend to skew the benefits of growth against the least well off, he can await my budgets. - Yours, etc., CHARLIE McCREEVY TD, Minister for Finance,
Dublin 2.