Sir, - My unemployed wife, Elaine, and I note with interest that Charlie McCreevy regrets using the term "individualisation" in describing his ingenious little income tax policy which "encourages" stay-at-home partners into the money-making workforce (The Irish Times, November 6th). He is irritated at the media's continued use of this term and must be annoyed with himself for the inadvertent moment in which he called a spade a spade.
There could be no better word than "individualisation" to describe the philosophy behind this policy. It contains so much truth about where we are heading as a society. What does this word say to us? It says: Everyone for himself. Forget community. Forget family. Forget children. We are all just individuals, answerable to no one else, responsible for no one else. Money is what matters now.
It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no place for those who fail to show unquestioning devotion to the Holy Economy. Well, Elaine and I have this quaint, left-wing, pinko notion that the economy should always be developed and controlled with a view to strengthening and supporting the social fabric of society. As things stand, the social fabric of our society is being dismantled around us to feed the insatiable appetite of our economy. But for what end? What is the purpose of growing an economy for its own sake?
Regardless of Charlie McCreevy's plans for using our family as fodder for His Holy Economy, we'll be putting our children first and we look forward to expressing our views on this matter at the next general election. - Yours, etc.,
Gavin Lacy, Castle Riada Avenue, Lucan, Co Dublin.