Sir, – How typical of Fintan O'Toole to attribute our economic recovery entirely to good luck and external factors, with no acknowledgement of domestic actions having contributed to that recovery ("A toast to the luck of the Irish, second time round", Opinion & Analysis, December 29th). While external factors have indeed been favourable, you make your own luck by being ready and able to seize the opportunities as they arise.
That is what the unpalatable decisions of the current Government and those of the previous administration, in its final budgets, have enabled. The need for painful decisions has been accepted, albeit grudgingly, by the sensible, silent majority of the Irish population.
On the other hand, many media hurlers on the ditch advocated a much more radical approach, such as leaving the euro, defaulting on sovereign debt, overturning the political system, and so on. As this was the road not taken, we cannot say with certainty if it would have led us to utopia or utter chaos, though I strongly suspect the latter would have been the outcome.
However, we can say with certainty that Fintan O’Toole’s dire predictions of long-term economic disaster have, thankfully, proven to be wrong but, as illustrated by his latest column, he is still unable to acknowledge that fact. – Yours, etc,
PETER MOLLOY,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole tells us that “all of the things that have rescued the Irish economy from disaster are strokes of fortune”.
On the same page, Richard Pine describes the current situation in Greece as follows – 26 per cent unemployed, 50 per cent of school-leavers and university graduates unemployed, 25 per cent of small businesses likely to go bust, etc ("Greece faces in to yet another unhappy year", Opinion & Analysis, December 29th).
Both countries are members of the the EU and the euro zone. Both enjoy what Fintan O’Toole describes as the “strokes of fortune” of cheap oil, cheap money, low interest rates and the weakness of the euro.
The fact that Ireland seems to be doing well while Greece, with the same EU and world background, is doing so badly highlights the fact that, contrary to Fintan O’Toole’s assertion, there is more to it than mere luck.
Like Fintan O’Toole, I am happier giving out about the powers that be and their past mistakes. But I have to admit that the evidence now is that we seem to be in a much better situation than Greece because the powerful people in charge of our most powerful institutions made different decisions to those made by the same powerful people in Greece. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.