Terry McGeehan SLICING THROUGH THE SPIN EVERY MONDAY LEADERS NEED TO BREAK THE BANK Long-term solutions rather than short-term handouts
IS IT an omen that tomorrow’s Budget falls in the same week as an anniversary of Ireland’s greatest ever economic disaster — the Irish bank guarantee?
On September 29, 2008, the Irish government was railroaded by the nearly-bust banks into guaranteeing their loans to the tune of €440 billion.
It was the worst economic decision ever undertaken by any Irish Cabinet and it paved the way for the Troika to come marching in, dictating bitter austerity conditions and for us having to accept a massive €85 billion bailout.
But even worse again was the horrendous financial misery inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Irish families, through absolutely no fault of their own.
Disaster
We went from boom to bust with businesses closing, unemployment rocketing, forced mass emigration, and people unable to pay their mortgages or loans, and with the banks breathing down their necks.
It was an unmitigated disaster, created over previous years by arrogant politicians and greedy bankers — but paid for by the innocent people of Ireland.
And now on the eve of an unprecedented budget, we’re suffering yet another economic upheaval — yet again not of our making — but which will ultimately be paid for by us.
Tomorrow’s Budget is being pitched as an unparalleled giveaway with the Government having a €14 billion package to play with.
But just like there’s never a free lunch, there’s never a giveaway budget either.
And down the track, there will be a bill to pay by us for all this Government generosity.
And already, Budget 2023 has all the hallmarks of too little, too late, too thin and too short.
We need sustained, long-term, deep, permanent and measurable solutions and results — and not just shortterm handouts, which though welcome and absolutely necessary, are not nearly the complete answer.
The energy companies need to be put back in their box so never again can they gouge consumers with a barrage of cynical price hikes.
The energy regulators need a deafening wake-up call so that never again are we caught with our trousers down and the Baltic wind whistling round our arse.
We must never ever again be so exposed to the whims of a blood-thirsty foreign dictator who has a stranglehold on not only gas supplies but fertiliser and wheat too.
And also heads must roll for a similar state that yet again we find ourselves in despite the bitter lessons of 2008.
Our politicians should have learnt back then never to let their guard down, never accept that watchdogs will actually bark, and never be dependent on others for anything.
Tomorrow’s Budget will definitely help relieve the cost of living crisis for struggling families.
But it must also mark an entire new meaning of what it is to be independent, free, self-reliant and secure.
And no better time than to put down this marker than in this period of remembering the momentous events of a hundred years ago when Irish men and women fought, killed and died so Ireland could be free and independent. Back in 2008 we found ourselves being humiliated yet again, looking to other countries for help and being far from free.
Let’s resolve now, after again finding ourselves compromised as a country, that this humiliation really will never happen again.
Never ever.