After the budget debacle, how can we trust the Government again?

IT would seem that if anyone is to get a soft landing in the economic landslide it is the people at the very heart of the problem, the developers and builders.

The banks will be forced to take the initial hit by selling on, at drastically reduced values, their toxic loans.

The banks are not merely institutions.

They have a very human face in the thousands of small shareholders, pensioners and other savers.

These people are now to take a double hit in that as taxpayers they are also obliged to suffer a variety of levies and sundry cutbacks to pay for the profligacy of others.

We are assured by Brian Lenihan that the national takeover of the marked-down assets will not mean that the developers will not be pursued for the full value of the initial loan. This assurance, given the government's record is less than reassuring.

Reasons for disquiet are fuelled rather than quelled by the vociferous protestations of Brian Cowen in the Dáil when reminded by the opposition of the “historic” entanglement of Fianna Fáil with the construction/development sector.

While one cannot exonerate the banks for reckless lending, one can, if one considers the matter, feel just a little empathy for bank personnel faced with loan applications from brass-necked, Rolex wielding, fully paid-up members of the Galway tent.

Nor can we depend on government agents in the Department of Finance. Not so many months ago, the Financial Regulator, Mr Neary, was insisting that the banks were well-funded. Never mind that every commentator in the country was crying “fire” at that stage. It was reminiscent of the Iraqi spin doctor who kept announcing victory even while the American tanks could be heard on the streets outside.

Why should we have any more trust in any other agent or official of government? For this process of recovery and renewal to have any credibility, it must be overseen by the opposition parties as well as the poll-slipping government.

Just because the Celtic Tiger has turned a scrawny, hungry mog is no reason to assume that the leopard will change its spots.

Margaret Hickey,

Blarney

Co Cork