Banks should be treated like tax defaulters

MAY I suggest, nay demand, that the Central Bank applies the same principles the Revenue Commissioners do when penalising people who knowingly underpay tax.

The Revenue normally charges a penalty equal to 100% of the underpaid tax plus interest thereon.

Banks clearly knew they were overcharging the customers involved in the tracker scandal, so they should similarly not only repay the overcharged amount, but in addition also pay a penalty of 100% of the overcharged amount plus interest thereon. I think that would be equitable justice, but what chance the Central Bank will step up to the plate?

R.J. CLOUGHLEY, Terenure, Dublin 6W.

A worrying signal

THE Oireachtas committee has agreed that the 8th Amendment should not be retained in full even though this is the provision in our Constitution that protects the right to life of the unborn.

Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell believes this decision is a step in the right direction. But how could a decision to end the human rights of a whole section of our society ever be a step in the right direction? And speaking of human rights, what about the right to life of the unborn? Is the unborn baby to be denied the right to life by virtue of the environment she is in, her level of dependency, her disability or even her gender?

Fianna Fáil TD Lisa Chambers said the decision sent a signal that the status quo was no longer acceptable. I agree it does send a signal. A very worrying signal that suggests unborn babies are somehow lesser human beings

Undeniably, we all know women who find themselves in desperate situations and we as a nation need to offer positive alternatives to the atrocity of abortion.

The Irish people will have their say and when they do I hope they remember that every human life is invaluable and so protect the right to life of both mother and baby. LOUISE CLARA,

Leitrim village.

Fianna Fáil hypocrisy

TWO years ago we were told austerity was over but it appears that austerity measures put in place largely continue and are not reversed to any meaningful extent.

The latest aspect of this that has surfaced in recent weeks is the discrimination in pension entitlements which affects women to a greater extent than men as they have been the main homemakers who took a break from work to rear families.

In the midst of this controversy, Fianna Fáil politicians are seeking publicity, criticising Government policy on this. Of course, in the midst of their criticism they have failed to mention it was their party that became the real anti-mother and anti-family party through their tax individualisation policy introduced in the budget of 2000.

The consequence of tax individualisation was the introduction of a significant bias in the tax system against families where one spouse, mainly the mother, chose to stay at home and care for the children in the family, care for elderly parents or may have been unable to participate in the workforce for health or other reasons.

It forced some mothers into the workplace as it became less financially attractive for them to stay at home to care for their children.

It could arguably be said this was a pander to business interests in order to encourage workplace participation rather than tax reform, as was the way it was sold at the time. It should be a legitimate social policy for any state to encourage long-term stable relationships in which children are cared for in the home by their parents, but Fianna Fáil did not seem to think so at the time, as parents were discouraged from spending time with their children.

That policy was a type of social engineering designed to encourage workforce participation through the tax system. It affected all married couples by greatly restricting their freedom to choose whether to leave one spouse in the home. That policy was a grave injustice towards single-income families that still continues today, as does the discrimination in pension entitlements.

CHRISTY KELLY, Templeglantine, Co. Limerick.