Sir, - Jane Suiter's worthy report, "Inflation figures under pressure with fall of Euro" (The Irish Times, August 10th), underlines the extent to which the public has been misled by the proponents of the new currency.
When the euro was first mooted, we were told that it would be stronger and less susceptible to speculation than our own meagre pound. Instead, since its introduction, the value of the pound in our pocket relative to the US dollar, for instance, has slowly declined. A visitor to the US who this time last year would have received as much as $1.07 per euro, will today be lucky to get 90 cents.
The forecasts of lower inflation have, in a similar vein, proved grossly inaccurate. And far from the predicted lower interest rates, Europeans can this year expect to pay ever increasing amounts in interest as the European Central Bank struggles to support the flagging currency.
Were we so much worse off with our own dear punt? - Yours, etc.,
Fergus Ryan, Bachelor's Walk, Dublin 1.