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To whom it may concern -
- Actually, I doubt it concerns you much at all. To judge by your behaviour, you seem content to sell this country to the highest bidder and retire on your generous, self-awarded pensions. All the while telling the electorate to shut up and listen to the experts - not, of course, the experts who think your behaviour is unethical, wrong, and out of line with your stated goals, but the experts who say you're always right. You know, the same experts who helped get us into this mess.
It is hard to overstate the gravity of the situation which now confronts the sovereign Irish state. This isn't as bad as the economic downturns of the 1930s, 1950s and 1980s, it's potentially worse than all three combined.
We are now in the extraordinary situation when the leaders of the two major parties do not command the confidence of a majority of their own deputies, let alone the country.
Never mind the fact that the experts have been wrong again, and again and again -- on the bubble, on the bank guarantee, on the effects of deflating the economy.
Government rules out increase in the corporate tax rate.
Uncertainty over the future is accompanied by a widely held belief that changing the Government would make no difference to Ireland’s economic prospects. This lack of confidence in the ability of the Opposition parties to extract the State from the financial morass is echoed by a general unwillingness to believe officials when they say Ireland’s bank liabilities are “manageable”.
So it's no use expressing my fury and disappointment to the leaders of this country. As to the people of Ireland -
Why have we let fear and dismay render us impotent? If our voices are ignored, why have we not acted?
Oh, I know why. We believe in due process and democracy. Despite the evidence right in front of everyone's eyes, evidence that democracy in practice means the wealthy and "respectable" are held to far less harsh standards than the rest of us. Despite the contempt which our governing classes are in the main content to display to the electorate to whom they are - theoretically - accountable. But accountability is only ever theoretical when you have influential friends, isn't it?
I am angry and disappointed and terribly afraid for my country. And to a lesser degree, for myself.
The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally
Whatever you might think of the Easter Rising and the Proclamation of the Republic, those are worthy sentiments. We've had nearly a hundred years to try to live up to them. So why do we keep failing so miserably?
- Actually, I doubt it concerns you much at all. To judge by your behaviour, you seem content to sell this country to the highest bidder and retire on your generous, self-awarded pensions. All the while telling the electorate to shut up and listen to the experts - not, of course, the experts who think your behaviour is unethical, wrong, and out of line with your stated goals, but the experts who say you're always right. You know, the same experts who helped get us into this mess.
It is hard to overstate the gravity of the situation which now confronts the sovereign Irish state. This isn't as bad as the economic downturns of the 1930s, 1950s and 1980s, it's potentially worse than all three combined.
We are now in the extraordinary situation when the leaders of the two major parties do not command the confidence of a majority of their own deputies, let alone the country.
Never mind the fact that the experts have been wrong again, and again and again -- on the bubble, on the bank guarantee, on the effects of deflating the economy.
Government rules out increase in the corporate tax rate.
Uncertainty over the future is accompanied by a widely held belief that changing the Government would make no difference to Ireland’s economic prospects. This lack of confidence in the ability of the Opposition parties to extract the State from the financial morass is echoed by a general unwillingness to believe officials when they say Ireland’s bank liabilities are “manageable”.
So it's no use expressing my fury and disappointment to the leaders of this country. As to the people of Ireland -
Why have we let fear and dismay render us impotent? If our voices are ignored, why have we not acted?
Oh, I know why. We believe in due process and democracy. Despite the evidence right in front of everyone's eyes, evidence that democracy in practice means the wealthy and "respectable" are held to far less harsh standards than the rest of us. Despite the contempt which our governing classes are in the main content to display to the electorate to whom they are - theoretically - accountable. But accountability is only ever theoretical when you have influential friends, isn't it?
I am angry and disappointed and terribly afraid for my country. And to a lesser degree, for myself.
The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally
Whatever you might think of the Easter Rising and the Proclamation of the Republic, those are worthy sentiments. We've had nearly a hundred years to try to live up to them. So why do we keep failing so miserably?