Sir, – With inflation running at high single digits and record sums in personal savings at Irish banks, Fine Gael’s proposal to spend around €1.5 billion to give the “squeezed middle” a €1,000 tax break seems foolish (“Michael McGrath says Fine Gael Ministers’ call for €1,000 tax break an ‘unusual approach’”, News, May 23rd).
With retail electricity prices not following what’s happening in the wholesale market and affecting everything from small businesses to the poorest in society, would it not be more prudent to instead continue to subsidise electricity bills until such time as the ill-fated hedging contracts expire? One hopes the lessons of the past with regards to giveaway budgets are not lost on wiser heads around the Cabinet table. – Is mise,
TOM McELLIGOTT,
Listowel,
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Co Kerry.