Your description (News, 1 March) of Charlie McCreevy as the worst minister for finance in the history of the state is far too kind. The worst minister of any description would be more accurate.

By granting tax cuts to the wealthy he aped the likes of Reagan and Thatcher. Yet, unlike them, he couldn't keep a lid on spending. The highest inflation rate in Europe, an overpriced country, an unequal society and a bloated public sector were features of his economic mismanagement.

He abolished the first-time buyers' grant, forcing people to pay more and more money in rent to wealthy landlords. He used taxpayers' money to support the horsey elite of his Kildare constituency.

McCreevy also gave us the SSIA. This was the first government policy that directly transferred money from the poor to the wealthy since Gladstone had abolished the Church of Ireland tithe in 1869. Now, incredibly, he claims the current crisis is due to too much regulation in the banking sector. McCreevy makes the current incumbent of the Department of Finance seem like a model of competence and graft.

Fintan Tuohy,

Castleconnell,

Co Limerick.