Madam, - After all the scandals of recent years it is almost beyond belief that two senior Fianna Fáil Ministers would have the nerve to act in such a cavalier fashion as that now revealed in regard to the spending of €14.8 million of taxpayers' money on the event centre at Punchestown.
It is perfectly obvious that, as far as Messrs McCreevy and Walsh are concerned, the days of the nod, the wink, the nudge and the guffaw are still with us and that normal procedures can be ignored when it comes to funding projects associated with their powerful friends in the equestrian world.
The alacrity with which funds were made available for this project contrasts sharply with the penny-pinching, parsimonious policy of this right-wing administration on the financing of community-based projects and other such initiatives aimed at improving the lives of the less well-off members of society. - Yours, etc.,
M.D. KENNEDY,
Silchester Park,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Madam, - Allow me to assure Mr Charles Mc Creevy that I for one am not in the least bit proud of the facilities he has chosen to provide for the élite horse-racing few using my taxes.
As the father of a now deceased child I am disgusted at the cavalier attitude this Minister has displayed. When my son was alive I watched as he was transported by taxi and ambulance, often very ill, from one hospital to another for an MRI or CT scan. This had to happen because our Government was willing to provide only a percentage of the funds needed to buy a scanner for Temple Street Hospital. The Exchequer could not afford the full funding!
My father-in-law has only recently waited more than six months for vital radiotherapy - a delay caused by a shortage of facilities and money! Yet if I want to build at Punchestown, I can nearly double my financial demands in a short time, obtain almost instant approval of 100 per cent government funding, and of course go back for more money if required, with virtual certainty that I will get it.
I hope the people of this country will see the total lack of respect that Mr McCreevy and the rest of the Government show for us as taxpayers as they happily please the wealthy horse racing fraternity. - Yours, etc.,
DEREK HANAN,
Crannagh Park,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.