The quiet revolution is optimism for Ireland

One Saturday eveningrecently, I was hopping off the walls.

The cause of much shouting and roaring was the repeated breaching of Northampton’s defence by Munster’s Simon Zebo.

His task had been eased after a pulverising from the howitzer that is Peter O’Mahony and a rampant Munster pack.

On the same weekend of that great rugby match I listened to a variety of the radio chat shows that festoon our Saturday and Sunday mornings. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

These radio chat shows had two common denominators. First, the contributors were drawn from a narrow bunch of panellists that seem to move around between the same group of shows, and, second, the contents were invariably dominated by negative news stories where the contributors appeared to compete over who could present a more negative anecdote about the state of our little nation.

These depressing transmissions were taking place while two men in their early 20s were showing the world a very different perspective.

Messrs Zebo, O’Mahony and co have grown upduring a period of trauma in Irish society.

The economy has imploded, emigration is resurgent, unemployment is high and the future can easily be presently bleakly.

It would be simple, within that context, to stay in bed and close the curtains. Yet some powerful spirit exists in these young Irishmen’s heads that encourages them to ignore the fatalism and all-pervading negativity that has swamped parts of our media. Instead, they have opted to get stuck in to hard work and a competitive environment in which they intend to prove their worth.

Their attitude, I suspect, is present among many young people in Ireland. Why, otherwise, are so many investing companies, including iconic multinationals, citing the quality of Irish employees as a key driver of their decisions to locate here?

Any jobseekers we have encountered in our company are bright, enthusiastic and optimistic about the future.

Of course, times are hard. Work is scarce, pay is tight and loans are hard to access. Some are choosing to emigrate in pursuit of bettering their lives.

But many are not, and the idea that Ireland is a broken down wreck — a view perpetrated by some — is confounded by young people’s enthusiasm and capabilities.

That is a sharp contrast to the drivel that masquerades as adult Irish weekend radio. In a medium that likes to present itself as being part of the people nothing could be further from the truth.

If you listen to these programmes, over a course of a month it does not take long to realise that a small club of contributors end up circulating among all of these weekend studios. They pontificate endlessly about the horrible state of Irish society in which most of them contribute little beyond the sound of their voices and the hot air of their breath.

If there is a revolution underway in Ireland, it is by those who are quietly revolting against the system by letting their actions do the talking.

These reactionaries cannot be found throwing themselves at the nearest microphone.

Neither will you see them as cheerleaders in fancy dress at the next street protest. No, they tend to be preoccupied honing the skills needed to make them succeed in not just Irish but international environments.

You can chalk me down on the Revolutionary Council of which Mr Zebo and Mr O’Mahony are members.

Overthrowing the consensus pessimism about Irish society that defines weekend radio should be one of its strategic objectives.

* Joe Gill is director of research with Bloxham Stockbrokers