INVEST MONEY IN COUNTRY’S FUTURE

IN order to bail out the banks, our national pension fund was raided. Saving AIB cost us about €20billion, and that money came from what we had saved for our future. It’s hard not to still feel angry about how much fixing the banks cost us. But at least, until now, we knew we had ended up owning shares in the banks. There was some prospect we could get some of the money back and invest it in building a better Ireland. Yesterday, Mr Noonan told the Government about his plan to sell a quarter of AIB. Doing so will raise €3billion – nowhere near what we put into it, but a decent sum nonetheless. That money could pay for the “transitional fund” we have heard is needed to begin building a free public health system over the next 10 years. Or it could double the amount available to expand our existing capital programme to build more schools, more homes and better transport links. Sadly, the Government has no intention of spending it on such worthy causes. Instead, it is going to pay down less than 1.5% of national debt. Now, I believe in managing money carefully, but our debt levels are already falling. And the people won’t see any benefit whatsoever from this action. If you think like I do, this already sounds more than a little silly. But to make it worse, the Dail voted against the Government plan but Mr Noonan has decided to just ignore that vote, and to plough on regardless. The elected representatives of the Irish people made a decision in the Dail. To ignore it is fundamentally wrong, and is an attack on our democracy. And so now this is more than something that could be seen as a bit silly or a bit annoying. This is a Government that has decided it doesn’t care what the Dail says and doesn’t care that its plan will deliver nothing tangible for the Irish people. After everything that fixing the banks cost us, the Irish people deserve some payback. It says a lot about new politics that the last decision of Enda Kenny and Mr Noonan will be to ignore a decision of the Dail. And in doing so, this Fine Gael Government is going to throw away an opportunity to make a meaningful difference to the lives of Irish people. If it insists on selling our share in AIB, the least they can do is invest in our own country – on hospitals, schools and new homes. Otherwise people have every right to ask, what was all the pain of the last few years for?