Government spin keeps building but it’s fooling no one
GOING by the spin coming from the Dail, our Government parties are wondering if now is the perfect time to call a General Election – or if they should wait until everybody is even more delighted with the way things are going.
No, seriously, that’s what the word is. The only worry for Leo and Micheal is do they call a snap election in a couple of months or “wait until more houses are built” and go at the end of the year.
You could hardly have a more bonkers example of how out of touch the guys at the top are with the day-to-day reality facing so many people in this country.
In one respect, they are right. Ireland is a very, very rich country. There is a section of society that has made out like bandits since the dark days of the crash way back in 2008.
Some are making vast money out of renting what used to be family homes, maybe even ex-council houses from back in the days when we used to build council houses (crazy times!).
In Dublin especially, you see the big pricey cars and there’s lots of flashy fashion and conspicuous consumption – there’s a certain type of minted Irish person that has to shout
about their wealth via designer labels, endless holidays and tacky homes.
But then there’s the other Ireland where people are working like maniacs just to pay the bills, doing their best for their families but often having to go without.
There’s the Ireland outside the Dublin Bubble – where roads are potholed, streets are derelict and all of our young people have one eye on Dublin Airpot and a flight to Sydney.
On the surface, our economy and our national finances are in great shape – but our Government refuses to spend money on basic services like decent roads, good public transport, a working health system (all the cash there goes into a layer of management at the top, the people doing the actual work are struggling like the rest of us).
The housing crisis continues and all the Government can do is come up with new ways to shovel aid to the big landlords, developers, international investor funds and banks.
It’s like every new initiative is just another way to protect them while keeping house prices at insanely unaffordable levels.
But we live in the era of spin and the Government spends a lot of money and effort in telling us that, actually, they are doing a fabulous job,everything is getting better and sure aren’t there loads of houses being built now compared to five years ago (never mind that very, very few of them are affordable).
So yes – that’s the message this week – things are just so fecking easy for everybody, sure you wouldn’t know when to call an election or if we need one at all!
Well here’s a counterpoint – we do – and it’s going to come as a bit of a shock to the “Everything is Rosy!” merchants.