Our Taoiseach has gone so far into denial about the crisis in our country that, like a collapsing star, no light is able to escape. For the duration of our depression the dead star, Brian Cowen, has acted on his prime instinct, which has not been to problem-solve, but rather to deflect legitimate criticism about his contribution to the collapse of our economy.

In 'Cowen-land' a group of virtually hereditary cronies imagined themselves to be the creators of endless success. They never missed a chance to tell a pliant public how government policy lay at the heart of every aspect of our seeming success. The same group of clay-foots then broke the sound barrier trying to go into reverse with regard to the policy decisions now exposed as the very model of how not to govern.

Unless we replace this group of 'dead men and women walking', we are not going to be able to capture the energy at the heart of every recovery when a modern economy collapses: the popular will of the people. The German, Japanese, and American people all rose after devastating economic catastrophes. Each period of collapse was ended only after the removal of failed and uninspiring leaders. The Germans had Konrad Adenauer, and the Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What do we have in Ireland: Brian Cowen's endless waffle about how meteorites from outer space rained down on us, smashing all he has singlehandedly built?

We are running out of time. We simply cannot afford to indulge in our notoriously overly-polite manners with regard to the comprehensive failure of a half-dead Taoiseach.

Declan Doyle,

Lisdowney, Co Kilkenny