Useful scapegoat in the guise of the Troika

YOU could be forgiven for thinking this Government is composed of robots or puppets – machines that will perform functions that they are ordered to do by their masters. But then the masters of this Government are supposed to be the people and whatever else they are doing the Government is not carrying out the will of the people who elected them.

 

The latest opinion polls clearly demonstrate that the people have turned against this Government. Support for the two Government parties has plummeted in recent months and unless things change before the next election, both Fine Gael and Labour are very unlikely to form the next Government.

Like its predecessor, the Government recognises only one master and that is the Troika – the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. It is the Troika that is pulling the strings and the people are suffering.

But a word or two or warning to the Government: The Troika does not have a vote. The people will eventually be masters if only for one day but on that day, the people will decide what the future will be for the Government and for all the parties and TDs in the Dáil. The Government may ignore the will of the people for a year, for two years, even for five years. But they cannot ignore the will of the people forever.

That is the beautiful thing about democracy. If we don’t like a Government, we can kick them out. Come election day, Fine Gael and Labour will surely rue all those promises they made before the last election and then proceeded to forget them as soon as they got into power.

Surely the Government knows by now that austerity is not working. Yet they continue with the policies that have failed right across Europe. They seem to believe they have no choice and they blame the Troika for the austerity.  “It was the Troika what made us do it”, is their constant refrain when trying to explain themselves. But that won’t wash with the people when the day of reckoning comes. People all over Europe have been putting governments to the sword because of austerity.

How can there be jobs or growth if people have not got the money to spend? This Government is forcing us to pay more taxes and charges, while at the same time reducing the amount of money we have in our pockets to pay those extra taxes and charges. That cannot work. All it is doing is creating more poverty. 
In a year or two years’ time, they will be boasting about the amount of people who are compliant with the new property tax. But the people will have no choice. They will pay the tax because the Government can take the money off them one way or another whether the people like it or not.

I have always been in favour of a property tax and I have always supported the idea of water charges. But I have always believed these taxes and charges should only be imposed on those who can afford to pay them,  Deferring payment is not the answer because they are going to have to be paid eventually in any case, along with interest. I believe it is unjust to force people to pay irrespective of what the family income is. I also believe the mortgage crisis is only going to get worse because if people who cannot afford to pay property taxes and water charges are still forced to pay them, they will not be able to repay their mortgages.

We are told things are starting to look up, that there are more at work now than at any time since the recession started. We are told we have turned the corner. I would love to believe that and so would everybody else. It would mean that once again we would be able to go out and buy those little and big things we have not been able to afford to buy over the past five years. I don’t want to come across as a pessimist but Fianna Fáil told us some three or four years ago the worst was over and that we were on the road to recovery. I believed that then because I wanted to believe it. I still want to believe it but I no longer can. I believe we will get out of it eventually but I do not believe recovery is around the corner. I have lost any confidence that I might ever have in the capacity of this Government to lead us out of the present recession. I can only go on the evidence I see all around me. I have less money in my pocket at the end of the week now than I had a year or two years ago. I see shops and small enterprises closing down all over the place. My heart leaps for joy whenever I see a new shop opening up but almost invariably the same shop closes its doors for good again a few months later.

Most of the ministers I have known personally in this Government are decent people. They are intelligent, hard-working and honest. At least they were before they went into Government and when I knew them fairly well. I would never accuse them of being conmen or con women. But they conned us when they told us they would be different to Fianna Fáil. They conned us when they told us they would do their own thing and would ignore the dictats from Frankfurt. Perhaps they meant those things when they made those promises. But with the trappings of power, they seem to have lost whatever good qualities they had as individuals in Opposition.

If the boot were on the other foot and Fianna Fáil were in power now, the people who would be leading the protest against the removal of the mobility allowances to the disabled are the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour.  Instead, they are either supporting the move or keeping their mouths shut. Is it any wonder people are so disillusioned with politicians in general?