Madam, - With regard to the notion that Ireland's public service has become a bloated behemoth, may I quote from the OECD's Public Management Review (2008), which is available on the internet?
"Policy since the mid-1990s to limit non-front-line service employment has meant that public sector spending and employment growth have not kept up with population and GDP growth. Ireland's real annual average growth in public expenditure between 1995 and 2005 was 5.1 per cent, significantly slower than real GDP growth of 7.5 per cent. Government policy has therefore decreasedthe total number of public sector employees as a percentage of the labour force and decreasedthe overall public sector wage bill as a percentage of GDP" (pages 20/21, italics mine).
The same source shows that total Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 2005 in Ireland was 34.4 per cent.
The figure for Luxembourg is 41.9 per cent, for the UK 44.3 per cent, for Germany 46.9 per cent and for France 53.7 per cent. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL PHELAN,
Viking Court,
Donabate,
Co Dublin.
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Madam, - In the book of Genesis (chapter 41) we are told of Pharaoh's curious dream.
He was standing by the Nile when seven fat cows came out of the river. Then seven more cows, ugly and gaunt, also came up out of the Nile and proceeded to eat the seven fat cows.
Joseph interpreted this dream for Pharaoh, advising that seven years of great abundance were to come throughout Egypt, but seven years of famine would follow. As a result of this information Pharaoh arranged to store enough grain for the seven lean years and as a consequence his people did not suffer during the famine.
Why has the wisdom that existed 4,000 years ago evaporated from our Government today? Are they just a bunch of dreamers? - Is mise,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Loreto Grange,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
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Madam, - With reference to the Lisbon Treaty referendum, I have read a number of commentators citing Bertolt Brecht's remark, "If the people had forfeited the confidence of the government, would it not be easier to dissolve the people and elect another?"
With the recent announcement of an economic recession, perhaps a more fitting quotation from the German dramatist is: "Those who have had no share in the good fortunes of the mighty often have a share in their misfortunes". - Yours, etc,
DAVID DOYLE,
Gilford Park,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.