Madam, - So now we know what informs Mary Harney's political philosophy ("Harney opposes more tax on wealthy", The Irish Times, August 2nd). And it's all so simple. Society is "like a football team: Some make premier division and others aren't so good, unfortunately." How touching that the word "unfortunately" is added as if to say, "Don't blame me, blame God. He made the world".
It is truly remarkable that in a society with the worst poverty levels in Europe, despite the abundance of wealth, a person in high office states in defence of the failure properly to tax the wealthy that "we are not short of revenue". This is offensive when we see all around us poverty and neglect on the one hand and great affluence on the other.
People on hospital trolleys, disabled and unemployed people existing on a pittance, and schools, the crucial element in the creation of a fairer society, run down and short-staffed. And as each day goes by, the opportunity for our young people to own their homes is pushed further and further away as the policies of this Government recreate the era of the landlord.
Ms Harney is the new Mrs Thatcher. Grab what you can, boys, and the devil take the hindmost. The British electorate, however, realised the great damage that these policies were inflicting. They sundered the community and led to massive increases in violence and social disorder that persist to the present day.
Our problem is, of course, that we cannot dump Mary Harney and her right-wing rump even though all they enjoy is a mere 3 per cent of the popular vote. Unfortunately, it's the Fianna Fáil party that throws them a lifeline and has them at the centre of power where they daily offend us with their "greed is good" fanaticism.
Bertie appears to have got the message from the electorate last June, however. This is not the way of a decent democratic community. We want to share the spoils of our endeavours as equally as possible. We are all in this together. After the McCreevy move, the most important question that Bertie must now deal with is: What to do with Mary? Brussels is not far enough away. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Madam, - Mary Harney should resign her Dáil seat and become a comedian instead. Since when have the rich voluntarily given up their wealth? On the contrary, they employ an army of accountants and financial advisers to ensure that they pay even less tax than those on the minimum wage. To look at it another way, the less well-off in this country are subsidising the super-rich. The rich are sponging off the rest of us suckers.
When Harney suggests that we should copy the American model, which model exactly has she in mind? Is it the one where the poorest 10 per cent of the population have no access to decent health care or support services? Where you can't get treatment unless you pay into a private health scheme or can afford the rates charged by private clinics? Sorry, I forgot: we have that model here already.
Or perhaps Ms Harney is talking about the model where the Government is little more than an exclusive club run for the benefits of the privileged few? Where half the population are so disillusioned they don't even bother voting and where the profits of multinationals are deemed more important than the quality of life and of the environment.
Sorry if I appear cynical, but it seems that we already have that model too. - Yours, etc.,
ANDY WILSON,
Sandyhill,
Westport,
Co Mayo.