Graphic error

YOUR front page graphic (‘Ireland’s debt toll,’ February 1) had an eye-catching stack of coins representing our growing mortgage and credit card debt.

If we take the first stack of 14 coins representing €60.9 billion, then only 33 coins are needed to represent the 2007 debt of €142.7bn. Your graphic uses 62 coins. The column representing 2007 is almost twice as tall as it should be. Anyone studying statistics or technical writing should keep it as a perfect example of graphic misrepresentation.

Donal O’Driscoll