Get back to basics and build future

I REFER to an opinion piece published in The Financial Times (April 12) submitted by an ECB official, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, in which he effectively admonishes Irish taxpayers, “Pay Up and Stop Whining”.

The Irish taxpayer has just cause to complain. In light of the colossal magnitude of the sovereign debt burden, it is difficult to see how a small, peripheral, export-driven, open market economy on the fringes of Europe can afford to service the ECB/IMF bailout interest charges.

The economy’s annualised growth rate is forecast to be of the order of 0.5%, whilst debt servicing charges are expected to be 5-6%.