Sir, – The revised GDP figure of 26 per cent is at best a joke. It has added nothing to our economy, created not a single extra job, or even one extra euro in tax.
If the activities of some of these mostly unknown companies will cost the Irish taxpayer €280 million in an additional contribution to the European Union, then surely we should insist that they take their business elsewhere.
Michael Noonan’s statement that we can afford the payment must be one of the most outrageous statements of the century. We cannot, not with our homeless problem, our continuing issues in health, the crisis in our education system, our lack of affordable housing , a looming state pension problem, the consequences of Brexit, and many other issues in our society.
The Minister for Finance, rather than acquiescing to such a ludicrous demand, should robustly reject any such payment and actively work to define what constitutes GDP in this new and relatively uncharted economic world. – Yours, etc,
DEREK MacHUGH,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.