Monday, October 21, 2013
Things are getting better, they say. The economy is picking up. We have turned the corner in fixing the nation’s finances. The economy will grow again next year. We will soon say slán to our troika babysitters.
Job well done. The self-congratulatory tone of our political masters is not just galling but deeply offensive to many Irish people, particularly members of what used to be known as “the coping classes”. These are solid, responsible citizens beaten down by the rising cost of living. Treated like the Government’s very own ATM, they have been further squeezed by a combination of lower incomes and higher taxes. The problem with the coping classes is that they are not coping and our most senior politicians haven’t seemed to notice. Most ministers have no idea of how ordinary people live. They may sympathise, but they have no real understanding and, therefore, cannot empathise with the daily grind and hardship being endured by hundreds of thousands of our citizens. These same ministers had cause this month to celebrate the birth of Michael Collins and to acknowledge him as one of the greatest of all Irish political leaders. Did they ever stop to think that he would never have allowed himself to become out of the touch with the people he served? He would have known the price of a bottle of milk. Do they? Did it occur to any of them that he would have been ashamed to see growing and visible poverty in Ireland, created not just by the recession but by one austerity budget after another? Collins had a vision for Ireland: a prosperous nation and a fusion of political ideologies for the good of the people. He was also a practical man, arguing that the Anglo Irish Treaty would give the Irish people the “freedom to achieve freedom”. Éamon de Valera was equally visionary. His notion of “comely maidens dancing at the crossroads” may seem hilariously twee nowadays, but at least it was a dream of what could be achieved. Fast forward to the 21st century and our political elite concentrate on charts and graphs and financial projections and fail to see the reality of life on the ground for tens of thousands of their fellow citizens. Where is their vision or even their passion for what politics should really be about – helping people? All the while Ireland’s rich are getting richer. Last year 621 individuals or couples earned between €1m and €2m, according to the Revenue Commissioners, up from 594 in 2011. At the same time, more than 1m taxpayers earn less than €30,000 a year. If the recovery is underway, how come people have less money in their pockets? How come youth unemployment is still so high? Even the OECD — an organisation not exactly overladen with diehard socialists — is worried, saying that the Irish economy is “leaving behind far too many for far too long”. You can see its concerns — the proportion of young people in Ireland who are long-term unemployed increased from 21% in 2007 to almost 50% in 2012. And what is the Government’s response? Punish the poor by cutting the benefit payable to jobseekers under 25. If the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members then we are becoming more uncivilised by the day.