4th
August 2003
The
Chief Executive
Sachsen
LB Europe plc
9th
Floor – Block
A
1
George’s Quay
Plaza
Georges
Quay
Dublin 2
Dear Sir/Madam
You may have seen
Paul Henry’s painting
called The Watcher at the
recent
exhibition of his paintings in the
National Art
Gallery; it’s a rear view of a
young
woman from Achill
standing on the
rocks looking out onto a very rough sea. You can imagine that she is
worried
that her loved one is still out there
somewhere! You cannot see her face; this lends a taint of anonymity to the lady, helpless in the
midst of impending turmoil. http://www.achill247.com/artists/Paul_Henry_Watcher.html
The Watcher gives
me an eerie feeling!
The initial part of my career was in Banking; all my study was to
enable me to
progress in my then chosen
field.
However, I always viewed the
world
differently and my superiors admitted that they
could not understand me. Different views also create a lot of social
baggage. I
left Banking in 1989. I recognised years ago that the
economies of our major trading partners would soon start going into
reverse.
This to me was as clear as night follows day. I became very afraid for the island economy of Ireland that was sailing
merrily in
a sea that was to become very rough. An Ireland in which my
children will
be building their future!
Like
The Watcher, I felt helpless. I wrote numerous letters to the national papers. A small fraction was
published.
I wrote articles for the
Mayo Association
Yearbook and became Editor for the
2001 and 2002 editions. I used this vehicle to enunciate my views. I
was
getting so concerned in Dec 2001 that I did up a four page note, giving
the reasons why the
major economies of the
world would
nolonger be in a growth mode and the
danger that this meant for the
Irish
economy and savings. I committed the
cardinal sin of this technological age in DEC 2001 and sent my notes to
almost
all the banks in Ireland,
including foreign ones; stockbrokers; the
economic departments of our third level colleges; plus various
government
departments: some public business people, by EMAIL. I had to take the risk that it would not be deleted as
junk mail.
Many
of my friends did not take my advice. I can
safely say that I have been the
world’s worse influencer of people. Michael
Commins of the
Western People read my articles and wrote about them
in a column of his. I enclose a copy for your consumption
My
particular viewpoints are often contrary to the
acceptable social values of today.
Pension funds and savings will continue to loose financially via
financial
buccaneers
(Enron types) under current structures. Fund managers and Trustees must
correctly read the
imbalances caused
by the opening up of a
conflicting
inter generation pull on scarce resources in the
developed world! There will have to be massive change in the
financial world, but opportunities will be limitless
Western
Care Association(Brochure enclosed) Dublin
will be holding the
following:
10th Annual Dinner
Dance
Burlington Hotel
8.00 p.m. Friday 12th
September 2003.
Dress: Informal
Music: The Brose Walsh Band
County Mayo has
suffered from under investment and from extreme out-migration
throughout the 20th
Century. The population is
traditionally made up off a greater proportion of elderly and children.
The
local population are put to the
pin
of their collar to raise the associated voluntary internal funding
to insure
that the usual health care
and
charitable institutions operate with modern up to date facilities. We the displaced people of Mayo try to chip in
whenever
we can. You will be aware that most of the
bank branches’s balance sheets in Mayo (often two in a small town with
no
worthwhile industry) have been traditionally net resource gatherers. This was mainly from emigrant
remittances
and continues to this day. In addition,
Mayo emigrants have being highly instrumental in encouraging U.S.A.
to
invest in the Irish
economy. Many of
its emigrants have invested in business ventures throughout the island of Ireland
Dinner
Dance Tickets: Charity auction on the
night.
€50.00 each can be obtained from our Chairperson, Mary Fraine
PH: 086
8473769 or John F Higgins (holidays 15 –24th Aug) P.R.O. Ph:
01
2887651, Email: higgins.good@indigo.ie or write to our Sec.
I ask you to bear the
above event in mind and maybe you might consider our Dinner Dance an
appropriate funnel in which to achieve some of your aims: re staff,
customers.
Got to keep trying to influence people! Thank you for reading this far.
Yours faithfully
__________________
John F Higgins. P.R.O.
Western Care Association, Dublin Branch.