Taxpayers struggle on as privileged few thrive

I LISTENED to Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday as he spoke on Morning Ireland about various issues, especially that of relief for mortgage holders who are in dire straits.

I can only conclude that Mr Noonan and his colleagues live in a world of ever revolving mirrors that tell you exactly what you want to hear at any point in time.

So the pre-election Fine Gael manifesto and the coalition Programme for Government were not being reneged on even though the commitments made in both documents were direct opposites of what is actually happening. In those documents, a de-facto commitment was made to take care of those who were having genuine trouble repaying their mortgages. There was also a commitment that any increase in interest rates made by the ECB, et al, would not be passed on to mortgage holders. Neither commitment has been met.