Madam, - Is the Public Accounts Committee a mouse or a lion? Certainly, it seems to have been very mouse-like when allocating "blame" for the Punchestown Equestrian Centre. Surely, Ministers McCreevy and Walsh should have been assigned responsibility instead of passing the buck to their departments.
The ease with which €15 million of taxpayers' money was secured without due diligence, value for money assessment or matching funding can be contrasted with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's programme for Community Enterprise Centres launched in 1999 with funding of €17 million.
To date, €13 million has been allocated on a matched funds basis to over 40 new enterprise centres which will assist the creation of hundreds of new businesses and thousands of jobs. These centres were selected on a competitive basis from about 140 applications representing, I assume, all constituencies. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN FLANAGAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.