Sir, – The culture of apology has become too dominant in our news pages over the past few weeks.
The HSE apologises with indecent frequency, and the consequent cost is met by the taxpayer.
The banks also apologise for their shortcomings in fiscal and financial control, again at the cost of the taxpayer.
Facebook has apologised through the EU for its misuse of personal data.
Yet corrective measures are levied on the taxpayer through the implementation and enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulations of the EU, at a cost to the taxpayer.
I am afraid that the currency of the apology has become worthless and can only be made meaningful when the institutions, organisations and corporations are forced to pay the taxpayer for their transgressions. The taxpayer has become and is a port of convenience for parliamentary and corporate incompetence.
This is a debt long overdue by these various entities.
In the absence of recompense, the administration, through the constitutional mechanism of the Oireachtas, has failed miserably. – Yours, etc,
CORMAC MEEHAN,
Bundoran,
Co Donegal.