A Chara, - Declan Kiberd sees lowering taxes as one of Bertie Ahern's key failures. "Low taxes lead to bad roads, dodgy school buses, long lines in hospitals", he writes (Opinion, Nov 14th). He should cast his mind back to, say, 1985, when tax rates were cruelly high. The roads were terrible and school buses were falling apart. Hospitals are different.
We have enjoyed a huge increase in population at a time when the average cost of treatment has risen sharply and therefore despite substantially higher investment the system is unsatisfactory. And there is fairly clear evidence that contractual and managerial issues need to be addressed before more good tax money is thrown after bad.
Yes, manners have degenerated, but not because of lower taxes. In fact, cultural and community values will flourish in the fertile ground of open and vigorous democracy. The latter is exactly what Bertie Ahern tried to eschew.
Under his spineless leadership, freedom of information was curtailed and vested interests were indulged. Populist stunts like the wasteful decentralisation scheme were typical.
Cities and towns ground to a halt while Bertie Ahern's Government dithered over important decisions.
And they ploughed on with unsustainable development with utter disregard for future generations.
No, Mr Ahern's big failure is not the lower taxes, but his lack of courage and vision. He led us to the land of plenty and took us home empty handed. - Is mise,
CIARÁN Mac AONGHUSA, Churchtown, Dublin 14.