I met a friend of mine from America here early last week and he asked me to give him two minutes on the state of Ireland. I told him I didn't need two minutes: The young want out, the old are afraid of cuts and the middle aged are looking at a retirementless, childless future.
That was my assessment of mood of the country before we were forced to accept the IMF/EU bailout over the weekend. I think I can safely say the mood has not improved. In fact, if anything the mood has darkened, grown angrier and the focus of that anger is the government, which is now on its last legs.
There are a million reasons for the Irish people to be disgusted with their leaders, but this past week takes the cake. All week the government denied that the IMF was at the door - even denying what was happening after the IMF man arrived in the country!
Yesterday was even better. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan gave a joint press conference at which they admitted that we needed "help" from the IMF and the EU. It was an amazing, mind-boggling performance as they took obfuscation and denial to a new level.
Neither man ever used the word "bailout", but both talked about capital, contingencies, etc. At one point Lenihan referred to the "problems that have beset us."
Beset. My wife was all over that. She turned to me - more in wonder than in anger - and said, "Did you hear that? Beset? He's talking like potato blight is once again wreaking havoc across the land. It's like he believes neither of them had a role in bringing us to this point."
She is totally right. Both Cowen and Lenihan, especially Lenihan, have frequently spoken of our problems as if a disease arrived on a ship and infected our banks. And while the credit crunch did sweep the globe after the fall of Lehman, the dead black centers in our banks were made jointly by our greedy wreckless bankers, feckless regulators and (criminally) careless government.
Never during the past two plus years, since the banking crisis blew up, have we had a full, frank admission that mistakes were made. More importantly, never did the government either (a) level with us as to the depth of the banks' problems or (b) learn the full truth themselves. Now the people are furious because they never had the truth nor leadership during the past few years capped off this week with the loss off all pretense of Irish independence. And it wasn't lost in a natural disaster.
5 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.sirpeter | Dec 07, 2010, 11:14 AM EST
The Rich buggering the ordinary people..Nothing new.It the main policy of the Rich.It happens in every country,The International bankers committee have decided the Irish people just happen to be worth buggering at the moment.Forget the reasons and whose to blame.Because the decision has been made.Unless you have money you can avoid it.But if you don't i recommend a quick exit or just clench your teeth
seamusmoore | Nov 22, 2010, 10:16 PM EST
only banana republics pass "retroactive" laws. The people of Ireland said nothing and asked no questions when the govt gave them free eyecare and free dental among other giveaways in the last decade. Where did the money come from for these entitlements(Ireland ran surpluses in 2005-7)? The stamp tax, which generated huge revenue streams for the govt; as the real estate bubble inflated, so stamp tax revenue to the govt. little wonder the Financial Regulator INSANELY approved 110% mortgages in 2005. In retrospect, it is easy to point the finger at bankers and real estate developers for "overindulging at the real estate saloon", but why didn't somebody tell the govt to close the bar? On a trip to Ireland some years back, I asked someone how could the Irish people tolerate the personal greed and corruption of Charlie Haughey? The response: My granny gets a free rail pass because of a law Charlie passed. Sadly, many in Ireland thought that there really was such a thing as a free lunch; alas, the bill has finally appeared.
karlconnellking | Nov 22, 2010, 05:14 PM EST
if ireland is the fall guy for all the banks in europe so ireland go down and they dont what deal have they done with imf and ecb? that they are not telling us, why are the opposition going along with this they went to dep of finance and they agreed to keep secrete some infomation and they say they could not release that info because it would effect the markets but the markets do not want to deal with us, so why dont they come out and tell us the truth now and an election before any agreement. if enda kenny and eamon gilmore go along with any agreement before an election they are party to the problem while bankers and poloticans still keep their positions why would the investors around the world give money to ireland ever again if the new goveremnt do not charge and try the bankers and politicans and others with fraud and financial triason if the laws of this country block any such effort then we should have a referendum to change the law and retrospectivley charge them freeze all their new reduced intitelemnts and pensions untill they are cleared by a court of law in this country we must prove to the world and our people that we can clean up our state and get rid of our financial liace and start with an open transparent fair and equal and inclusson of all in a new ireland freze the banks take all the good deposits out and put into a new goveremnt backed bank then let the imf and ecb chace the mistry of what went on in our banks and why what happened and have proffecional accountability any person involved in mistakes and let the problem go on and on should not be allowed to have importand positions in banking decisions in the future. the people involved in getting us into this should not be players in getting us out as it is possible for them to double deal again
Monsoonman | Nov 22, 2010, 12:18 PM EST
My freezer is full of waffle cut freedom fries just in case. Spuds have a shelf life, just like democracies, ask the Greeks, since they are about to learn it the 2nd time around: The "don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that guy behind the tree" syndrome has finally reached the critical mass point, the guy behind the tree had his pockets picked.
kateomprint | Nov 22, 2010, 11:38 AM EST
Who do you think you are thinking that our Government would admit to mistakes (perish that thought). They talk as if the mistakes were made by somebody else out there in the great wide wonder. They have allowed people who ran the banks walk away with millions in pay deals and have done nothing about it. The week before the IMF came to Ireland they were saying that there was no deal with them for Ireland and suddenly they arrive and what we hear from Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan (no brains) is that it is a program for Ireland not a bailout. I have come to the realisation that the Irish people including myself are a bunch of spineless idiots who have taken all this shite over the past few years and done nothing about it.