MICHAEL FLYNN,
Sir, - I have been the Irish director on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development since July 2000. I also represent Denmark, Lithuania and FYR Macedonia.
Mr Eddie Holt's feature article in your Weekend supplement of February 16th is a good read but he is wrong (and dramatically so) when he says that the EBRD uses "banking's capitalist system to further government control of the economies of poor countries" and supports "whomever is in power, however corrupt, incompetent or dictatorial".
If your Mr Holt and The Irish Times's readers would like to know what we really do, they could visit our website www.ebrd.com, or I could write an explanatory article for you. In the meantime the following two sentences are from one of the many publications that our excellent, committed management and staff produce:
"The EBRD works only in countries committed to the principles of multi-party democracy, pluralism and market economics. The EBRD is committed to promoting environmentally sound development and applies environmental requirements to all its projects as a matter of course." - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL FLYNN,
Executive Director,
European Bank
for Reconstruction
and Development,
London.