LETTERS to the editor
29 August 2010 Planning court case dismissal
Last Sunday’s Business Post carried an article about a recent court action by a person who was reported to have sued his solicitor in connection with a planning application in Co Kildare.
The claim was dismissed. It was surprising, then, that the article began by reporting an allegation to the High Court that a member of our staff had demanded a bribe to approve the planning application.
This aspect of the story was further magnified in the headline’s large, bold print.
The allegation was not the point of the story, but even so it was put very prominently at the top - a clear case of the tail wagging the dog.
This was despite the fact that your newspaper was aware that the allegation had been investigated twice and that, at worst, there was no indication that anything was amiss.
Lest there be any doubt about it, the position is that, following two separate investigations, one of them conducted by the Garda, no substance has been found in the allegation that a bribe was sought.
I know that it is the fashion of the time to look for scapegoats and give them a public ‘‘hanging’’, but isn’t there something somewhere about having a fair trial first, and could our employee have one?
Charlie Talbot Kildare Co Council
Our debt crisis
A table in Cliff Taylor’s piece (22/8/ 10) indicates that €32 billion will be needed to service the national debt over the five years to 2014.
This amount, which will rise due to additional bank bailouts, amounts to a full year’s tax revenue. How can it possibly be paid without massive political, economic and social consequences?
Brian Flanagan Blackrock, Co Dublin
Tax hike caveat
The news (22/8/10) that the government is considering moving to a new fuel tax instead of the current motor tax system would appear, at first glance, to have a degree of equity, in that the user pays.
However, the fact that there are two economies on this island needs to be borne in mind.
Such a switch could see unused petrol stations north of the border reopening and a corresponding loss of Vat and knock-on PAYE and income tax for the southern government.
The mistake of December 2008, when Vat rates were increased by 0.5 per cent, should not be repeated.
Paddy Malone President Dundalk Chamber of Commerce
Status duo?
It has been hinted that talks are going on between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on the issue of forming a coalition after the next elections.
The fact that Brian Lenihan delivered the main oration at the Michael Collins commemoration at Be¤ al na Blath fans the flames of speculation in this regard.
Can parents who are worried about their children’s future expect any comfort from a coalition of this kind, whose policies are hooked on a diet of privatisation and a survival plan based on taxing every last cent from people who haven’t got anything left to give?
J Woods Gort an Choirce, Dun nGall
Not over for Ivor
The best option for Ivor Callely after his resignation from Fianna Fáil is to carry on and claim as much in expenses as possible - vouched or unvouched - because this way, he stays in the headlines and publicises the huge amount of money available to our politicians. Don’t be bullied, Ivor.
Don’t give back any of the travel and phone money because, the longer you carry on with your attitude, the sooner the whole claims system will be overhauled.
John Kavanagh Ratoath, Co Meath
* Every day, politicians meet, talk to and are often invited into the homes of families who are under severe financial pressure.
We witness families dealing with issues including unemployment, mortgage difficulties, money lenders, mental health problems and even the suicide of loved ones.
The financial sums involved in the expense claims (not salaries)
currently under investigation by the Seanad committee are, in my book, astronomical, and would certainly be enough to alleviate the difficulties facing a number of individual families.
It really angers me that some politicians display alarming levels of greed and that the ‘system’ apparently facilitates them.
Fine Gael Gaeltacht spokesman Frank Feighan’s idea of making Irish the community language of Clare Island, Co Mayo, certainly deserves support - subject, of course, to the views of the island’s population.
A more modest proposal with a greater positive knock-on effect for the use of Irish nationally would be to phase it in as the working language of Leinster House over a three-year period.
Leadership from the front is always refreshing. Unlike Feighan’s proposal, TDs and senators would not have to speak Irish at home, have their children educated through Irish nor conduct their other work in the first official language (although more and more of them might well choose to do so).
All they need do is debate the events of the day in the national parliament in the national language, as is done by brighter students in most secondary schools. The quality of debate might even improve as our national leaders begin to think more outside the box.
Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh BL An Leabharlann Dli Baile A´tha Cliath 7
Church abuse
An authoritative survey by the independent John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York revealed that more than 80 per cent of the abuse in the Catholic Church was of a predatory homosexual nature, and not paedophile.
In this context, surely Pope Benedict is to be commended for asserting that those of a homosexual inclination should not be admitted to seminaries?
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