Forget NAMA — let’s start again

IT seems beyond any reasonable doubt that the response to the banking crisis will shape the country’s future for years or generations to come.

In this regard major concerns about NAMA are expressed, calmly and logically, by a range of sources across the ideological spectrum and even within the government coalition itself.

The recent apparent willingness of a large Canadian financial institution to invest (post-NAMA) in one of Ireland’s biggest banks is in itself the clearest signal that NAMA will shift the massive risks involved from the market to the taxpayer.

Appeals have been made for public opinion to make itself felt. Some form of participative democracy is needed and civil society in this country needs to be heard. Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State in the 1960s, once said that “one of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears — by listening to them”.

Yet the recent indicators suggest the Government, or Fianna Fáil to be more accurate, appears to be either unwilling or incapable of listening to any contrary opinion or to any constructive suggestions. Right now, it seems the only vision the Government has is to put things back the way they were — a course which will only compound the present disaster. Is there any possibility they might seek to visualise the sort of just society that could emerge in Ireland, and start from there? Please ...

Alan Egan

Knockrea Lawn

Ballinlough

Cork