Eoghan Harris (Independent)

The long debates on NAMA are not helping confidence. A tripartisan approach to the economic crisis would be better for democracy. A cross-party group or committee could be set up to make the difficult decisions, such as on public sector pay, whether more people should be brought into the tax net and what will be done about social welfare. The Parliament could be allowed to act as watchdog on that cross-party support.

I am one of those who believes the truth sets people free. The public is always ahead of politicians. It knows how bad things are and is not interested in the gassy speculations of economists whose egos are deeply involved in selling books or predicting the future. One cannot predict the future. People know that all we can do is buckle down, as the British did during the Second World War. The Irish are ready to buckle down and do the difficult things and it is time the political class caught up with them and buckled down in the same way via a cross-party approach to the crisis.