Sir, – Dr Alan Ahearne of NUI Galway proposes the removal of mortgage interest relief on tracker mortgages (Business, June 25th). This, I presume, is a special case of what seems to be a general economic principle of: sign a binding contract with another party; and then, when things don’t go the way you would like, tell them to get stuffed and move the goalposts to suit yourself, especially if you are bigger than they are.
As a leading economist, Dr Ahearne will be aware that business transactions are based on trust, backed up by the law, so that outcomes have at least some element of predictability for the contracting parties. I think it is a sad day when economists advocate changing the rules half way through the game, especially to ease the burden on banks, whose staggering incompetence got us into this mess in the first place. – Yours, etc,
ARTHUR HENRY,
Balally Drive,
Dundrum, Dublin 16.