Government stood idly by as economy stalled

OUR Government is completely out of touch. The Spanish economy is in a similar state but their prime minister recently called his government back from summer holidays early in order to deal with their problems.

The problem here began to arise in late 2006, but the Government made sure the lid was kept on it leading up to the general election last May.

The present problems were often flagged by well-known economists like George Lee and David McWilliams, but ministers castigated them for being prophets of doom and gloom.

The Government sat back and let the money pour in from stamp duty, VAT, car sales, etc. Brian Cowen, as Minister for Finance, was too slow to reform stamp duty even though the opposition parties, builders, estate agents and first-time house-buyers were pleading with him to do so much quicker.

Total incompetence has been shown by this Government and its immediate predecessors, all of which wasted so much money over the past decade — yet our health service and education system are very poorly run.

There are no excuses — not all factors affecting our economy are due to international events.

It’s just not good enough to have amateurs running the country in such a time when real leadership is required.

Billy Walsh

24 Parknamore Rise

Ballincollig

Co Cork