Sir -- Congratulations to Declan Lynch on his wonderful article on the financial markets. (Sunday Independent, Dec 18, 2011). I believe the major flaw in everything they are doing is not recognising that nations can last and will last for hundreds of years. Thus, even when they make serious financial mistakes -- deficit budgeting, taking on high levels of debt -- they have the capacity to recover. But once they set on a corrective course, they must be given time to get their house in order.

This is the one thing the erring nations are not being given. Retrenchment budgets have been set, governments have been toppled, but markets refuse to wait for results to emerge.

People forget that nations need to borrow in national emergencies. This is now our national emergency but we will rectify all this when we have resolved our issues.

But the markets must wait for some time for Ireland to reform our nation and they cannot penalise us while we go through this process.

Markets, give us the breathing space to get back on our feet. Don't kick us while we are down.

Vincent McArdle,

Mt Merrion, Dublin

Serfdom replaced by mortgages

Sir -- Declan Lynch may not hold a chair in economics at a university but his article on 'the markets' certainly showed the 'irredeemably evil nature of that industry'. (Sunday Independent, Dec 18, 2011). Yes. the money-men always win and we have to ask ourselves why?

When Ireland got its independence in 1921, the Irish banks catered for a very small percentage of the population. Most workers were paid weekly in cash and even monthly salaries were also paid in cash. This continued right down until the late Seventies when frequent raids on banks led to payments by cheque or bank transfer.

Then banks 'discovered' that money could be made from Joe Ordinary by way of overdraft charges, bank loans and then the biggie -- the mortgage. A new serfdom had arrived to replace the bondage of landlord and tenant. But, of course, it didn't seem like that at the time of the Celtic Tiger.

Now that the truly evil nature of how the markets work has been exposed, we must wonder what can be done in Ireland to try and temper this beast as we cannot revert to barter or payment by cash. I have long argued that Irish banks should become more fully 'national'. By that I mean that the people who work and run these institutions should be accountable to the national interest by elected representatives.

Regional boards would reflect local interests better than the present 'status quo' of self-serving cliques. Also bankers should understand the effects that bank policies have on SMEs and local communities.

We know that Michael Noonan still wants to emulate his hero Michael Collins and do 'something big' for Ireland. However, when he was given an opportunity to do something radical with Bank of Ireland last July, he chose not to. There can never again be 'business as usual' in Irish banking. The Government and the major Irish banks are now bound together in some sort of desperate Faustian pact from which there is no 'get-out' clause. If Mr Noonan wants his footnote in history, he should act as Collins would have done and integrate the banks fully into the national life of the country. We cannot beat the markets but we can try to temper their irredeemable greed.

Bernard O'Grady,

Muswell Hill, London

Families are too busy to listen

Sir -- As a parent, I refer to this extract from Emer O'Kelly's article, (Sunday Independent, Dec 18, 2011): "Parents nowadays seem to live with the ever-present fear of their children killing themselves; that brave but unutterably selfish and final act of despair. The fear is a kind of emotional blackmail and it must be tackled."

Clearly Emer O'Kelly has no concept of how any individual (old or young) must feel when they carry out "that final act of despair".

As it happens, neither have I -- but I would never dream of talking about it so glibly.

I have gone through a year when I lost a parent, have faced the serious illness of the other one -- and have been personally diagnosed with cancer; yet even under these circumstances, I have never contemplated suicide. But this does not mean that I have no compassion for the state of mind of those who do.

Does anyone ever think about why so many counsellors are needed these days? Perhaps because family members no longer listen to each other -- and parents are too busy on the internet to listen to their children.

My daughter is searching desperately for work -- I have never witnessed such effort on anyone's behalf to find it.

Also she has been my rock through hard times in my own life recently and I will help her in every way that I can. Just because she is over 18, does not mean that I can now 'throw her out on the street'.

I can only imagine what that scenario could result in. Anyway, as it happens, she has no money to pay for accommodation and, like me, is in receipt of absolutely nothing from this Government -- and never was.

Yes, I agree that children should be taught the truthful cliche that 'money does not grow on trees' -- but my children are well aware of this.

I am a mother -- and am not ashamed to say that I will care for and love all of my children until the day I die. They, in turn, are aware of my love for them -- and do not take it for granted.

In these very hard times, family members should be listening to each other and caring for each other.

Yes, my life and your life is our own responsibility, but, as I have discovered this year, we need love extended to us from those closest to us, especially when faced with a serious health diagnosis or with the death of those we love -- and many other situations too numerous to mention here.

Name and address with Editor

Deputy Ross ignores CIE facts

Sir --As usual when Shane Ross engages in his CIE obsession "Flabby CIE puts cost on you", (Sunday Independent, Dec. 18, 2011), the truth is conspicuous by its absence.

Deputy Ross ignores the fact that while the subvention to CIE to provide essential public transport services is €58.2m lower in 2011 than in 2008, the CIE Group of Companies in the same period will have reduced their annual operating costs by over €150m.

These cost reductions have been achieved while ensuring strong provision of public transport services across Iarnrod Eireann, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus, despite dramatically reduced economic activity (which Deputy Ross somehow thinks is irrelevant in terms of demand for public transport services). These cost reductions will continue in 2012, as we seek to maintain the services we provide for our customers.

The lazy approach Deputy Ross takes to his secondary career in journalism -- where the cliche-driven one-eyed rant is his stock-in-trade -- is demonstrated further in the article. For example, he tries to create the impression that the fare increase approved by the National Transport Authority was assessed in four days after the Exchequer tried to "put manners on CIE".

The truth -- as reported in the days after the Budget by a number of journalists who bother checking facts -- is that the Department of Transport consulted with all transport agencies and the NTA throughout the year on the likelihood of significant reductions in subvention for 2012.

This was to enable the agencies to plan as businesses the necessary cost reduction and revenue generation measures.

He furthermore, in describing our fares as "overpriced", wilfully ignores the unhelpful finding by the NTA, from independent research, that compared with other European countries "fare levels in Ireland for urban and rural transport services were broadly in the mid-range. Given the high price level of other non-internationally traded services in Ireland, this suggests transport fares in Ireland are moderately priced."

So Deputy Ross remains dismissive of the need for truth, objective analysis, and balanced assessment of issues, but remains committed to misleading his readers, demonising a workforce, and to grandstanding and self-aggrandising hype.

Unfortunately, one doesn't expect any cuts in this area for 2012.

Barry Kennedy,

CIE Communications,

Connolly Station,

Dublin 1

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