Madam, – In his letter supporting Dr Garret FitzGerald’s views Paddy McEvoy (April 5th)seeks to persuade us that the free market system has been unduly influenced by what he calls the unbalanced and exaggerated presentation of economic facts.
He appears to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that Ireland’s bank bailout came about not from the operation of the free market but from the most extraordinary interference with and refusal to allow the free market to operate.
Instead of allowing the free market operate to punish those who engaged in risky lending, the rules of free market have been suspended to protect the lenders and to transfer the losses onto society at large. What is operating now is some bizarre hybrid that has arisen from the cross breeding of capitalism and socialism. And to distract our attention from this reality, attempts are being made to shoot the very messengers who for several years warned us of the coming tsunami. – Yours, etc,