EARLIER this week, Ireland’s finance minister Michael McGrath outlined in his budget the intent for that nation to have a sovereign wealth fund with assets totalling £86 billion by the middle of the 2030s.

The fund will be set up using some of the corporation tax windfall that Ireland has received from major global companies, amounting to some £20bn last year.

The sovereign wealth fund, known as the Future Ireland Fund, will be used to “protect living standards and public services”, including addressing issues related to an ageing society such as pensions, health care and home care.

There will be a second £12bn pot to protect infrastructure spending during economic downturns and invest in climate change measures, supporting a transition away from fossil fuels.

Contrast that with the UK, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently predicted will experience the weakest economic growth among the G7 group of advanced economies next year, at 0.6%, with the Irish economy growing at more than five times this rate at 3.3%.

It is indeed amazing what smaller nations, often with considerably fewer resources than Ireland, can achieve with they have full control over their economic affairs.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

I CAN understand the feelings of everyone involved in the case of the delayed discovery of the M9 crash.

I have every sympathy and believe that the former officer who gave evidence to the fatal accident inquiry on Tuesday, and who had failed to log a call about the crash, was not solely responsible.

With a member of my extended family having spent a large part of his working life on police telephones in local centres, I am convinced that the ultimate blame lies with the first chief constable of Police Scotland, Sir Stephen House (pictured).

He made the decision to close local telephone services and centralise them at Bilston Glen. Both individual telephonists and union representatives advised him that local knowledge was very important but he refused to listen, claiming the computer system was perfectly adequate.

A large number of telephonists, disagreeing and fearing the possible consequences, opted for the redundancy package. Bilston Glen therefore required to train a large number of new recruits. This meant many of those on duty were either in training or officers used as stopgaps until a full complement was reached.

My informant, on hearing of the fatal delay, told me that, had he been working in Stirling, he would have asked the caller two questions based on local knowledge, which would have allowed him to identify the location of the accident to within a maximum of 100 metres and a local team would have responded immediately.

Sadly, there was no such relevant local information on the computer system, thanks to Sir Stephen House’s intransigence. I believe, therefore, that he was ultimately responsible by creating a situation he had been well warned about.

This disaster surely proves the folly of over-centralising and undervaluing local knowledge. How, for example, would a telephonist identify the location if the caller was a stranger to the area, who could only report that an incident was a couple of miles from Letham?

I know of at least four Lethams in Scotland. So do not let us place too heavy a burden on this officer, as his own regrets are heavy enough.

P Davidson

Falkirk

WATCHING the latest bloodshed in Gaza and Israel, it is hard to believe that in the 21st century, we humans are still shooting and bombing civilians and children, unable to solve our disputes by means of discussion and diplomacy.

The old imperial methods of smash and grab are here for all to see and there are few voices in support of the rights of the Palestinian people.

All the post-Second World War powers which agreed to the displacement of the Palestinians

had a hand in the current morass, with Britain having its own particular role.

Hamas has been widely described as a terrorist organisation as have all the liberation movements that have gone before – the Mau Mau, the African National Congress, Sinn Fein. They are terrorists until they win and are then embraced by their previous detractors.

Who can forget the sight of Margaret Thatcher greeting Nelson Mandela in Westminster Hall?

The people of Northern Ireland were fortunate to have a powerful lobby of Irish Americans at their back who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement. Who do the Palestinians have to renegotiate a decent deal for them?

If the Israeli government believes blasting Gaza into rubble is its guarantee of peace for the Israelis, it is much mistaken. It will create another generation of young Palestinian refugees even more determined to take back power in their homeland.

Well done all of those who have called for a ceasefire and for a negotiated settlement. Strength to all the Israeli peace organisations whose voices are never represented in the mainstream media.

Maggie Chetty

Glasgow