Madam, - Listening to the steady flow of depressing statistics from the various think tanks, and from individual economists, has convinced me that bad news is both infectious and counter-productive.
Is there really any great need for harbingers of doom to rub our noses in it, especially at a time when we should be preparing to roll up our sleeves to face whatever the new year can throw at us.
We didn't get to where we are today by crying into our beer and dwelling on the miserable hand that fate had dealt us. Nor did global uncertainty, war, famine, or natural disasters divert us from our ambition to lead the field while the rest of Europe begrudged us our place in the sun. We have consistently proved the doubters wrong, and prospered when others had almost thrown in the towel.
The problems we now face are not of our own making, and will be relatively short-lived. And while we must, of course, take heed of the fall-out from the world-wide sub-prime debacle, we mustn't allow the peddlers of pessimism to talk down our future prospects.
We should view 2008 as a new beginning for a lean and fit Celtic Tiger, primed and ready to take on the world for the next 15 years. - Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY, Killester, Dublin 5.