Sir, – Eric Byrne TD (March 10th) must have been asleep in the period prior to the last general election if he is of the view that the Labour Party did not state clearly that they would burn bondholders.
If he has forgotten about Mr Gilmore’s pre-election threat that it will be, “Frankfurt’s way or Labour’s way” he surely hasn’t forgotten Mr Gilmore accusing Brian Cowen of being a traitor for doing precisely what this Government is also doing.
I could go on to mention that this same Government that Mr Byrne seems so proud of is now on record as having brought in the most unfair budget in the history of the State. But that aside, Mr Byrne, despite the protests, seeks cover by suggesting ignorance thus: “Election promises were made in good faith in the context of what we knew then . . .”
Perhaps Mr Byrne might explain to us all what exactly it was that Labour did not know “then”. – Yours, etc,