Sir, – Vincent Browne is indulging in selective amnesia when he bemoans the fact that, as he sees it, “much has remained depressingly the same” in this country over a long period (Opinion & Analysis, April 16th).
He seems to have missed the fact that this country was bankrupted during the course of that period by the decisions of a small number of its own most powerful citizens. When he states that the euro “opened the floodgates to ... the financial crash” he forgets that most of the countries which joined did not become bankrupt.
For the ordinary citizens, to their cost, nothing will ever be the same in this country as a result of the failures of its dominant institutions – government, finance, academia and media – during the boom.
Ironically, the institution which has remained most depressingly the same is the media, which still indulges in the same celebrity-driven, personality-obsessed, flogging-dead-horses coverage of public affairs as it did during the boom. Yours, etc,
ANTHONY LEAVY,
Shielmartin Drive,
Sutton,
Dublin 13