Sir, – Fintan O'Toole has the luxury of dismissing the economic recovery under this Government as being down to pure luck, primarily because we have not had to experience the effects of the alternative policies proposed by the left in recent years ("A toast to the luck of the Irish, second time round", Opinion & Analysis, December 29th).
In a counter-narrative, under an Anti-Austerity Alliance, People Before Profit, Socialist Party, Independent government, we might have, while our economy was at its most fragile, defaulted on our sovereign debts, raised the corporation tax rate, introduced a financial transactions tax, increased the minimum wage to €13 per hour, invested in massive public works and employment programmes and applied a millionaire tax.
Many of these proposals are laudable, and perhaps some could be phased in now that the economy is stronger. It can also be argued that the social cost was too high for some of the policies that were imposed during the recession, whatever the economic circumstances.
But would taking the Greek approach to financial diplomacy have resulted in better outcomes for Ireland? Would multinationals have continued to invest and provide employment without certainty on corporation tax? Would it be prudent to increase the deficit when the global economy is showing signs of slowing? Could struggling small firms have absorbed a dramatic minimum wage rise during the recession?
As a small, open economy we are obviously at the mercy of global trends, and we have largely been a beneficiary of these. However, alternative domestic policies would have had an impact on the economy, regardless of international factors. Would the net effect have been positive or negative? Hard to say. We can only speculate from a position of hindsight in the fastest growing economy in the OECD. –Yours, etc,
DAVE McGINN,
Islandbridge, Dublin 8.
Sir, – Peter Molloy writes (December 30th) writes that "many media hurlers on the ditch advocated a much more radical approach, such as leaving the euro, defaulting on sovereign debt, overturning the political system". Can he attribute these ideas to anyone? I am not aware of commentators advocating any of these measures.
Of course, making private businesses, including banks, handle their own debt is fully in line with the private enterprise economy we have here, and carrying this risk is the main justification for the profit such corporations make. Instead the Irish taxpayer was forced to take on €64 billion of private, not sovereign, debt, and the current Government has not pressed the EU to implement the burden-sharing deal it welcomed when it was introduced.
The massive cutbacks in social services such as health and education are the direct result of the burden on Irish taxpayers forced to pay back this failed private speculation. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.