Too soon to judge new government

COMMENT

IT is far too early yet to condemn or praise the new Government’s overall performance after its first 100 days in office, which passed during the week.

They inherited an economy that was in shreds, a health service that was on the verge of collapse and an attitude of total pessimism about the future among the citizens of the Republic.
None of those problems have gone away. If anything, the situation has got worse but the Government can hardly be blamed for that. Most of the problems we have will take several years to sort out and the Government is powerless since we handed over control of our destiny to the troika of the ECB, the EU and the IMF.
I suppose the best that can be said about the Government’s first 100 days in office is that they have been making all the right noises. The worst that can be said about them is that like empty vessels, they are all sound and no substance.
Actions, they say, speak louder than words and it is on their actions, at the end of their term, that this Government and all governments will be judged rather than on what they promise.
They promised us a lot during the election campaign that they could not hope to fulfill but those promises were made to get our votes more than for any other reason. They were going to “burn the bondholders”, for example, and were going to renegotiate the high interest rate that Ireland has to pay for the EU/IMF bailout.
However, they were only a few days in office when it became clear that they were going to follow the same policies in relation to the banks that Fianna Fáil and the Green Party had followed during their term of office.
Rather than burning the bondholders, the banks have been further recapitalised and talk of a reduction in the interest rate has proved to be just that, talk.
The big questions for the Government have yet to come. We know, for example, that the coalition is going to have to impose tough new household charges next January. We don’t know all the details yet as the pronouncements of some ministers on the issue appear to contradict each other.
It is now 34 years since local rates on domestic houses – along with car tax – were abolished in one sweep by Jack Lynch’s government in 1977. While car tax was gradually reintroduced over the years, politicians of various persuasions were afraid to bring back local rates in any form.
Eventually, charges for domestic waste were introduced to a background of violent protest in Dublin and other cities. The protesters, led by Joe Higgins, now a Socialist TD, claimed that the charges for domestic waste were a form of double taxation and hit the poorest hardest. However, the government and the local authorities held firm and those charges are now accepted as a normal household expense to be endured if not enjoyed.
Be sure that when new service charges are introduced next year there will be further protests. Whether they are violent or peaceful remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain and that is that the Government’s determination to get to grips with the economic crisis will be tested as these charges and other austerity measures are introduced in the coming years.
Actually, I do not look on water charges as an austerity measure but as a necessary device to persuade people to conserve such an important natural resource as water. I am constantly harping on about how vital clean, fresh water is to all of us, as if we didn’t know already but down through the years we have acted as if clean water was something that would always be there and that we could throw away or run off if we felt that we had too much of it.
Water charges should change that culture but there cannot be a fair system until such time as they can measure the amount each household uses and that can only be done when meters are introduced to each house.
That is going to be costly and especially costly in a recession, when every extra cost has to be looked at as the last straw that might break the camel’s back.
I would hope that the meters are introduced during the lifetime of the present Government. My own view is that there should be a free and reasonable allowance of water for every household but any amount above that should be paid for. I think that is also the view of Environment Minister Phil Hogan.
Water charges should not be introduced as another measure to make money and should not be privatised. They should be introduced to enable the local authorities to provide clean, fresh water on tap to every citizen. That, hopefully, will be the duty of the public authorities and the duty of the citizens will be to respect it.
If the Government can bring that about I, for one, will give them credit.
However, water charges are not going to be the biggest headache threatening the Government in the months and years ahead. The banking crisis is not going to go away in the foreseeable future and will continue to threaten to bankrupt us unless Europe can see sense and relieve a burden that could bring down the whole of Europe and not just Ireland and a few other peripheral countries.
In the meantime, I will suspend judgment on the Government’s performance for at least another 100 days.