Ref: Thursday March 02, 2006.  http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74609#comments
See article for comments on the Celtic Tiger

Cowen pleads to public sector workers to support his insanity.

The man is in a corner, his party in a hole, the opposition lining up to take on the government’s toxic debts
and Ireland once again is in an economic shithole that was brought about by political representatives who neither knew how to spend wisely nor how to manage properly, in case of a rainy day, the state’s finances. Joe Higgins was a total gobeen for telling us that we were on a slide to disaster, while David McWilliams was criticised by everybody and anybody who proudly professed their expertise in the financial affairs of the state. Bertie was on a high, so high he could advise another politician to go back to his little corner and die, and the people wallowed in the roar of the tiger. Slam, bang, wallop, the Celtic Tiger ground to a halt and the fingers of blame started to point in the direction of the banking industry.
Blame the banker’s they got us into the mess we are currently in. Yea, blame the bankers; turn the rage of the people away from the real culprits of the economic disaster we now find ourselves in. The real culprits for this disaster can be found within the walls of Leinster House, for it’s within the walls of Leinster House that political representatives turned a blind eye to the activities of the banking industry over many years, and it’s for this reason and this reason only, we now see senior members of the banking profession retiring on massive severance payments and pensions, purely because politicians within the walls of Leinster House could not, and cannot afford to rock the boat by denying these people golden handshakes for all their troubles. The people have always know that the banking industry operated like Del boy, the people have always known that the banking industry was a law onto itself and yet our political representatives came out with bulging eyes wide open when they allegedly discovered improprieties within the banking industry. Let us not forget, this government spent billions of taxpayers money without a single thought for the consequences such expenditure would have on the everyday lives of Irish citizens should the economy go into freefall in the future.

Haughey once told us to “tighten our belts” and now Lenihan appeals to the people to “do your patriotic duty”, as our young Irish skilled workforce huddle and queue in line to board boats and planes in search of work in foreign lands while our politicians stand at the quayside waving them goodbye, only to plank their well fed bottoms on the leather seats of their new Mercedes Benz cars. Ireland’s political answer to Ireland’s economic problems, tax the people to extinction and send the rest of them on the emigration trail.
While supporters of this political madness justified the trickle of jobs losses in recent years as being a shift from a low skilled workforce to a highly skilled and motivated workforce that they basked in a fairy tale belief that Ireland was a globally positioned landmark for high technology industries to locate and remain.
“You're talking bullshit. “The economy isn't contracting, as you claim, its growing by 6 per cent per annum. Since 2000 manufacturing output has increased by 28 per cent, not as good as in the late 1990s, but comparing very favourably with other EU countries - the increase in manufacturing output in the EU as a whole since 2000 is about 4 per cent. There is always a small loss of jobs from the least profitable sectors of the economy.” 1
Cowan is in a corner, how can he justify squeezing more taxes and levies out of ordinary working people while at the same time turn a blind eye to people who find it difficult to maintain three houses and pay for servants out of their miserable salaries of millions. How can he convince the people that they need to tighten their belts for the good of the country, while at the same time throw crumbs of gesture to the peasants by offering them a gesture that the political establishment would take a pay cut; as he looks for other ways in which to reimburst his Leinster House chums for a reluctant gesture that is aimed at convincing us all that we as a nation are collectively obliged to accept our individual portion of blame for the economic mismanagement that was manufactured by others.
“This is a load of claptrap. The job losses in this country have been in the low skilled Manufacturing sector. It is an inevitable consequence of a dynamic economy that is successful. There is a huge Government surplus. This is modern economics and so far it is been sustained. Of course it cannot be guaranteed but that is the way it is .It would not be any different if we were all working in indigenous industries. If this is indymedia it is no different to the shite spewed forth by the Indo every day of the week. If the economy does go belly up there is so will immigration .Factors such as interests rates are largely ouside forces. The economy is in a good position to weather it.” 2

Recapitalise the banks, yea let’s recapitalise the banks, pump billions of taxpayers money into an institution that still has not come clear about its toxic debts. And while we pump billions into the banks, let us ignore the suffering and pain of those who find themselves unemployed and under threat from the same banks who threaten to repossessed their homes due to default of mortgage payment. When it comes to ordinary taxpayers making a sacrifice, he has no reluctance in pointing out the pains we must endure and the tablets we must take.
‘Taoiseach Brian Cowen has today expressed the hope that public-sector workers will decide not to take industrial action over the imposition of the pension levy…….Speaking in Tallaght after the launch of a new project to extend the Luas rapid rail line to Citywest, Mr Cowen said: “Obviously one would be disappointed if industrial action were to be an outcome here."…………. "I hope it would be the intention of everyone not to affect the services that people depend on because the public services are important to people in the months and years ahead.” 3
When it came to answering a question about the banking sector, he once again done what every politician is a crafts person at doing, talking a load of baloney and going around in circles. Yes, the government is going to recapitalise the banks. No, it cannot at this moment say to what extent the toxic debts are within these banks. And by the way, while the government would like to go in and conduct an audit into the financial affairs of the banks, it really would not like to upset the lads just in case the government is sucked with the rest of the nation into a gigantic arsehole that it cannot get out of, nor will have not a single hope of seeing light within the near future. If the banks are to be recapitalised by the taxpayer, then the taxpayer and not the government must have an interest in a recapitalisation that guarantees those who are indebted to the banks that they will not have their homes reposed unless all forms of mediation has been exhausted and a statutory body is established that will examine and make a decision on every case of home repossession.
“On the recapitalisation of the banks, Mr Cowen said: “Those discussions are ongoing and we hope to finalise them shortly. I would make the point that since the guarantee scheme was introduced we have the ability as Government under this remuneration oversight committee to look at all areas of remuneration in the banking sector for those institutions that are covered by the guarantee. They will be reporting in the coming weeks to the Minister for Finance and we expect those recommendations will be implemented.”4

While Minister Dempsey blames Dublin Bus and the CIE group of companies for all the woes in our transport sector, Minister Dempsey fails to tell us that the stagnation within our public transport system was brought about by his department and the pen pushing officials who know more about running an efficient transport system as they do about kite flying. A classical example of this interference, and its only one, is the ridiculous procedures our public transport company must take when proposing a new bus route. After conducting extensive market research into the need for a service in a particular area, the drawing up of plans and scheduals for that service and the allocation of buses to service the new route, the company must first submit it’s proposal to the Minister’s office where the proposal is considered and then put out to tender so that other operators can bid for the new route. In other words Dublin Bus does all the donkey work and the private sector cherry picks the routes they primarily see as providing a service that will secure the greatest financial return and not a public transport service that will be of benefit to all the people. While Dempsey blames Dublin Bus for all our transport woes, Fine Gael thinks the answer lies with the private sector, as if the private sector is immune from traffic congestion, the driving standards of the taxi industry and the rediclious lack of enforcement in regulations that would allow buses travel uninterrupted throughout the city and county. Once again, yet another department is seen as being totally blind and ineffective when addressing the real problems associated with the provision of public transport. And yet Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann is forced to cut services, lay off employees and re-schedual routes, as the government calls for cut backs but continues to spend billions on a metro system that will more for image and the business class rather than the majority of people who make up this nation. If we need cutbacks, then the government must look at projects that are not essential and can be placed on the shelf until the economy returns to prosperity.

If the government and the political establishment want ordinary people to make sacrafices, then they themselves must start at leading by example. The start must begin with the levels of pay politicians receive in this small country of 4million people, that pay must be gauged in comparison to political representatives in other countries where their populations far exceeds that of Ireland. When the Taoiseach can command a salary that is greater than the President of the United States, then questions must be asked about who is fooling who.
Politicians expenses are by far way in excess of political representatives in other EU countries. If our political leaders want to lead by example then they can do their patriotic duty by spending more time in the Dail trying to find solutions to our economic problems instead of taking unacceptable holiday breaks that are denied to all other citizens. If they want everybody else to be patriotic then let us start with them.
Irrespective of a financial meltdown in the banking sector, Ireland would struggled to maintain a level of employment into the future, simply because the emergence of eastern bloc countries into the EU means that multinational companies will find a new source of tax breaks that come within emerging economies that can provide a source of cheap and eager labour.
‘When economic growth first began in the 1990s, production costs in Ireland were relatively cheap. Together with the low corporation tax of 12.5 percent and various tax breaks introduced after 1997, this was a major factor in attracting vast levels of foreign investment into the country. Now, however, things have changed. Developing economies such as India and China, as well as the states in eastern Europe, can easily undercut wage levels in Ireland.’5

For it’s part the EU is more interested in the security of power through numbers than it is in the economic welfare and prosperity of it’s people. From an Irish political point of view the decline in our health services, our education system and the sorry state of our public transport system, is a testament to the collective irresponsibility of Dail Eireann and all those who walk its corridors.
The Celtic Tiger gave ordinary working people one thing and one thing only; the ability to borrow, and now its payback time.
“We are being watched all over the world and the world is seeing that this is a cowboy economy run by cowboys,” said one, who stands to lose almost his entire investment in the company. 6

The banks did not cause all our internal owes, yes external banking factors precipitated in what we see in our banking system today, but the problem in the health of our state finances was brought about by political mismanagement and incompetence, that that has left the future prospects of our people on very dangerous ground. You can blame the banks as much as you like, but the people who we elected and trusted to manage our economy has failed the Irish people in every possible way. They have milked and lined their own pockets out of the financial resources of the state. They now ask us all to pay through financial hardship for the problems they themselves brought about through their lack of leadership and responsibility.
Why should Ryan Tubridy or anybody else take a pay cut when the government has its priorities in the wrong place. Do we really need a Metro, do we really need an extension to the Luas system when Dublin Bus already services the areas the new Luas line will duplicate. Do ministers really need to change their cars every two years and does a government in a country as small as Ireland really need a state jet when a national airline can provide all the facilities needed for ministerial travel. Do people have to suffer because the government won’t spend public money in our health service, while at the same time hand the banks billions of Euro in order to bail them out. Do our children have to suffer through the decline in our education system while the government stands idly by as bankers are paid millions of Euro, who then walk away from a problem we are all asked to dig deep into our pockets, be patriotic and save our country. When bankers celebrate record profits, what they really have done is squeezed the financial resources out of ordinary working people, self employed people, small industries and a variety of other industries that helped keep people in employment.

The problem with the recession of present rather than of past is that our people are by far better educated and are neither susceptible nor gullible to the waffling of politicians who promise everything but provide nothing. Our people will not allow once again the wool to be pulled over their eyes by the games of past, where politicians used community employment schemes and FAS training courses, that allowed them to hide the real problems of unemployment. I am not prepared to take a pay cut unless I see evidence that those at the top as well as our political leaders are taking a substantial cut in their earning, bonuses and perks. Let the same politicians who stand at the grave of Wolfe Tone or proudly speak of Padraic Pearse, show the Irish people that they themselves are as patriotic about their country as they expect the rest of us to be.
“When Dell decides to either reduce operations or leave Ireland, do not hold your breath because Intel will be very quickly hot on its trail with great speed. And when the major multinationals decide its time to go then why not show this comment and opinion to your local political representative and say that a small, unimportant but concerned individual seen the writing on the wall long before the elected representatives of this country were willingly prepared to inform the people.”7
When Dell decided to reduce its workforce the government went into panic mode and dispatched a minister to the Dell headquarters in America. Although Dell did not pack up and run to Poland where it would find greener pastures, the pull out of Dell in Ireland is not a case of will they stay, but when will they go. It is also very notable to see that Intel came out practically immediately, trying to reassure the government that the company had no intention of leaving Ireland, well not at this moment in time. Don’t hold your breath, that pullout is just around the corner.
We are about to see industrial rest at a level never seen before in the state. Those who cry for change and reduction in the public sector may be better off looking to the trade union movement in an effort to try and protect the little they have, for if this government has its way, we will all be living on charity and huddling in groups in order to keep ourselves warm. When the banks are evicting women and children from their homes our political leaders will be ducking and diving and talking rings around themselves in order to confuse those who question their actions. When you are sitting in a hospital for hours waiting for a doctor to examine you and find he does not turn up for his public patients because he or she is too busy with their private clients or their golfing game went that little bit longer than anticipated, just remember you will still be able to take the Luas into town or board the Metro, that’s if you can still afford to pay the fare.

References

1. John-dunaree2000. Fri Mar 03, 2006
 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74609#comments
Referenced: 09-02-2009

2. Parishpump – none. Sat Mar 04, 2006
 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74609#comments
Referenced: 08-02-2009

3. Irish Times.com Mon, 09 Feb 2009
 http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/general/14917842/?v...ndard
Referenced: 09-02-2009

4. Irish Times.com. Mon, 09 Feb 2009
 http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/general/14917842/?v...ndard
Referenced; 09-02-2009

5. Shilton. Jordan, ‘Economic troubles mark the end of Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger’
World Socialist Website, wsws.org
Referenced; 09-02-23009

6. Irish times.com, January 20, 2009  http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0120/123....html
Referenced: 09-02-2009
7. Travers. Jim. 02-03-2006
 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74609#comments#
Referenced: 09-02-2009