Sir, – Government politicians, including Enda Kenny, are thanking us for our cooperation in getting our economy to where it is today.
I must tell them all, please don’t thank me, I did not, and do not agree with what was done on my behalf. What happened in this country, and in many others, was the greatest transfer of wealth from the ordinary citizen to a small number of already extremely wealthy individuals and institutions.
When examined properly one finds that we have been left with a society that is on the verge of collapse, and future generations are condemned to pay unjustified debts for years to come. I utterly condemn both the present and the previous government for getting us into this sorry mess.
This all happened because the leadership of this country had not got the courage to confront the vested interests of both our EU masters and the markets, instead agreeing to repay their gambling debts. If Ireland had behaved like poor little Iceland, and stood up to the bullies, I would have acquiesced with your policies, and then you could thank me for my co-operation. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’DONOGHUE,
Killerig, Carlow.
Sir, – Given that he was IMF mission chief for Ireland at the time of the bailout I find Ashoka Mody's assertion that "bondholders should have been burnt" and that Ireland should have been "more pushy" with the European Commission a bit hypocritical (Simon Carswell, Home News, December 13th).
This is especially so when he is failing to spell out the consequences of a partial default.
All who think that the laws of the market should have applied to our banks then have to answer the question as to what level of chaos would have ensued.
If we think that the damage to the most vulnerable in society has been high in present circumstances it could have been much higher in the event of a partial default. Ashoka Mody has failed to go into that.
The issue of large financial institutions being “too big to fail” has to be addressed in future if we want to prevent something similar happening again. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY LEAVY,
Shielmartin Drive,
Sutton, Dublin 13.
Sir, – Now that the time is almost upon us – and I refer to December 15th rather than the 25th – I want to remark on one particularly cloying cliche which has done the rounds in the media generally in the last couple of months and that is the phrase, “waving goodbye to the troika”.
For me anyway, this turn of phrase almost implies some sort of fond farewell on the part of the Irish people, crowds thronging the streets and airport with tears welling in their dewy eyes and hankies at the ready, as if bidding a reluctant, bittersweet adieu to some kindly benefactor rather than a group of people who socialised private debt, slashed the wages and conditions of ordinary workers and who, without electoral mandate, inflicted austerity on, if hardly all, then the vast majority of Irish citizens.
There is, simply, in this choice of wording, a suggestion of friendly disposition which is entirely misplaced given the circumstances but perhaps speaks volumes about our national character. I somehow doubt whether the media of our fellow PIIGS countries will be quite so benign in their analysis when their time comes to part company with the forces that inflicted hardship on many for the benefit of an elite few.
Furthermore, the so-called “waving goodbye” may be, in a sense, somewhat premature as from all media reports since the announcement of the December 15th date their malignant legacy of will persist, in the form of regular “check- ups” on the State’s finances, long after they have discontinued having a direct hand in the affairs of our State. – Yours, etc,
JD MANGAN,
Stillorgan Road,
Stillorgan, Co Dublin.