Sir, – Further to Phillip Brown’s letter on risk-taking in the civil and public service (July 10th): he quite rightly points out issues regarding various projects where there have been serious cost overruns or delays. However, he goes on to fall into the same old trap by suggesting we should adopt private-sector approaches as the solution but conveniently forgetting that it was the same private sector, ie mainly the banking and financial sectors, that was responsible for having the International Monetary Fund bail us out and have many years of austerity and families losing their homes as a consequence. There were no long queues of those responsible being held accountable for their abject failures then. Neither sector is perfect but we still need both working efficiently for the good of all citizens. – Yours, etc, DAVID GORDON,New Road,Clondalkin,Dublin