Sir, - As one of the suckers who has Eircom shares languishing at a fraction of the price that I paid for them, I think I am the most misfortunate of all. Yet my cynicism is directed at those who now are so loud in their condemnation, whether of the managers of the company, or its directors, or the Government.
After all, at no time since before the launch of the shares until quite recently was any significant voice raised to say other than that it was a business with good prospects, well-managed and directed, and that the shares were a good long-term buy. If there were people who had any doubt about any of those things, they kept their mouths shut - and now, I say, is not the time for them to open them. Both in buying the shares and in retaining them until now, I and everyone who is now moaning were following the only advice that was available.
Yet none of us was either forced or tricked to follow that advice - no one said it was a certainty; there was no deception; the small print was quite legibly large. Anyone who put money into Eircom that is needed for another purpose is a fool, pure and simple, and deserves no sympathy whatever. In fact - and this is what makes me so particularly unfortunate - I am convinced that all those who have been moaning about it do not even deserve any recovery that might yet take place. - Yours, etc.,
Frank Farrell, Lakelands Close, Stillorgan.