Sir, - Under Savings Certificate Rules, interest on certificates cannot be withdrawn separate from the principle amount involved. Repayment of savings certificates is based on surrender of principle and interest that has accrued thereon. Is there a rationale for this procedure? It dates back to 1923.
This was time when there was an injection of British Treasury officials into the Department of Finance to clear up the "relaxed" accounting which had grown up during the Civil War. They gave themselves superior airs and paid themselves more than their counterparts in other departments. They developed a "dealing with the natives" ethos.
As their disgraceful adversarial attitude in intimidating abrasively the unfortunate hepatitis C victims shows, they never lost it. "Megalomaniacs", the frustrated ex Minister for External Affairs, the late, great Patrick McGilligan, used to call them. What were they up to tricking about with the interest earned on saving certs is the question? It is a separate entity? - Yours, etc..
Cedarmount Road,
Mount Merrion,
Dublin.