JOE ROONEY,
Sir, - Kevin Myers's contention that Margaret Thatcher's reforms turned the British economy into "the most vibrant economy in Europe, with one exception" is factually incorrect (An Irishman's Diary, June 6th).
Since her election in 1979, the British economy, in terms of growth in real GDP per capita, has underperformed, among others, the economies of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Norway. If we look at the period since the mid-1990s, we find that the Swedish and Dutch economies have also comfortably outperformed the British economy and that the pace of real GDP per capita growth in Finland was twice that of Britain.
If Mr Myers is really interested in the truth, he would serve the public better by explaining how the above small open economies (like our own) have combined economic vibrancy with social justice and a quality of public infrastructure that we can only dream about. - Yours, etc.,
JOE ROONEY,
Vesey Place,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.