Guess who’s still carrying the can?

THERE is only one answer to Ireland’s problems. A revolution. No, I am not inciting to violence. This is not a call to arms. I am not proposing that we storm the Bank of Ireland or even Government Buildings. I don’t want to see anyone shot or even hurt.

I do, however, want to see some rich and powerful people hurt where they really feel it and that is in their wallets and their bank accounts. This government of Fine Gael and Labour as well as the previous Government of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, are only tinkering with the problem. They will never take the radical decisions that are needed to solve this country’s problems. This week’s Budget proved that.
They tell us that they had to make hard decisions. Well, they did not take them. They took the easy choices just as Fianna Fáil did before them. They took the easy option of picking on the poor, the sick and the most vulnerable in Irish society. They are the easiest. people to hit because they have no  voice. A lot of them do not even bother to vote because they have lost all hope in any of the political parties.  A lot of them are unable to vote; they cannot leave their home and they cannot afford to pay somebody to care for them. To take money off the disabled as the Government did in this year’s Budget was not just a shame. It was a disgrace.
The Government boasted that social welfare rates were maintained in the Budget. But there were so many hidden cuts in various allowances and benefits that it would have been more honest if they were upfront and spelled out in plain English what they were doing.
There was no effort made in this week’s Budget, no more than there was in the Budget last year or the year before, to try and bridge the gap between rich and poor. The gap was actually widened further and the poor are being forced to pay for the sins of the rich.
Enda Kenny told us on Sunday night that while we were not responsible for the mess we are in, we would have to suffer. He said we would all have to carry the can. Well, the people who caused all this are not being asked to carry any can. They are not the ones who are going to suffer.
There was a lot of comment last month about the fact that people on big pensions or salaries of over €100,000 a year were going to pay more taxes. We heard that former taoisigh and ministers were going to be screwed at last.
The reality, however, was different. Bertie Ahern, on a pension of about €150,000, was going to lose about €4,000. So he’s going to have his arse out through his trousers because he is going to have to get by on a miserable  €146,000 a year. My heart bleeds for him and for all the other poor ex-ministers.
I hear right-wing economists and politicians lecture the rest of us on the radio that you cannot tax the rich because if you do, you will drive wealth out of the country. So poor Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney are going to have to emigrate because they cannot afford to put a crust on the table on about five times the average industrial wage.
Sorry if I am making you weep. My heart is breaking too. But remember there are lots of Bertie Aherns and Mary Harneys in this country.  However, the good news for them is that neither this Government nor any other that I can think of is going to make them pay. They are going to be left alone, while young people trying to put a foot on the ladder will be forced to emigrate because there is no job or no hope for them in their own country.
I fail to see what purpose Enda Kenny served by coming on television on Sunday night to address the nation. I had thought it might be a good idea, and one of the faults we had with Brian Cowen was that he never delivered a State of the Nation address. But if Sunday night’s performance is anything to go by, then I’m glad Brian Cowen never addressed us. Enda Kenny had nothing new to say; he didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already. There was no leadership, no vision. You might have expected fire in his belly. All you got was wind.
In my naivety I was expecting that Enda, like Churchill, would tell us that this could be our finest hour, that while the lights were going out all over Europe we would fight them on the beaches… that we would defend this little island no matter what the cost…that this was the beginning of the beginning.
That’s what I expected. I thought he would rally us to the cause of Ireland; that we would be rushing out on Monday to volunteer our services to the Irish nation and that we would all be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to save this great little country from ruin. 
In hindsight, perhaps like Churchill, Enda should have had a stiff brandy before coming on air. That might put fire in his belly. But on second thoughts, Brian Cowen tried that on Morning Ireland and see where it got him.
But what did we get from Enda? Another party political broadcast and a very poor one at that.  Once again, a taoiseach has given a bad name to a State of the Nation address. I never want to hear another one.
He did promise us we would have a referendum next year on the abolition of the Seanad (he called it “the Senate”). Big deal. But it is a step.  He should also have promised us a referendum to reduce the number of TDs. I am not talking about a token reduction of from 166 to 155 or even 140. I am talking about a real cut in the number. Surely 100 or even 80 TDs would be enough in this small country. But I never hear any politician from any party suggest such a cull. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas.