Not the time to loosen our purse strings
The polls appear to suggest that he should cut and run while the going is good and seek election now. The view of many is that he would be returned to power. He knows our options are limited.
Fianna Fáil is in a mess, what with internal bickering, a lack of support for the leader by some of the party’s grandees and the loss of some bright sparks in the last week. Sinn Féin is still toxic to many voters for a variety of reasons — ranging from the response to sexual abuse by some of its senior members, to the still lingering smell of cordite.
In addition, folk seem to be generally happier and optimistic about the future.Enda does not seem convinced though. It’s not that long ago that he got a right old roasting at the local elections. So, being concerned at the vagaries of the increasing floating vote, he is just not convinced that now is the time to end his reign and take a chance. History concerns him.
However, if he hangs around for another six months or a year, things may change for the worse. Putin continues to flex his muscles in Ukraine, makes bellicose noises at bordering countries and sends jets so close to the Nato country airspace that anything could happen. The EU has neither the military ability nor the bottle to stand up to Putin. The US under current president Barack Obama, cannot be relied upon to support its friends.
Enda’s Government’s handling of Irish Water has been far from assured and Eurostat may just kick the legs out from under him in a few weeks if it finds that Irish Water is just a sham. There are also lots of other banana skins out there that Enda or one of his colleagues might just slip on. The retirement of Garda commissioner Martin Callinan may just be one of those banana skins. Who knows what else is out there?
Yet, an election is in the air. All of a sudden everything in the garden is rosy.
Good news flows like rain in a tropical forest. The country is on the up and it is all Fine Gael and Labour’s doing, or so we are being led to believe. The troika’s input is forgotten. However, we have not forgotten Pat Rabbitte’s reminder that hyperbole during election time is to be expected and not taken seriously.
Most of us would love to believe that all is well, but we know that we are still borrowing north of €5bn per annum just to keep going. But, as they say, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. Our economy is highly dependent on what happens outside of Ireland, what the US does and how well it is doing, ditto the UK and Europe. Any of these external factors outside of our control could catch a cold and all would be lost.
Whilst we may have not forgotten Pat Rabbitte’s words, the bosses of the public sector unions have chosen to forget them or ignore them. The body representing middle-ranking gardaí has already demanded pay increases. The teachers are expected to follow suit at their annual get-togethers over the coming weeks and months. Others are sure to follow suit.
Once again, the unions are forgetting that they are not the drivers of this economy. The private sector is, but the private sector cannot hold the country to ransom like many unions in the public sector can. No matter how badly public sector workers suffered, private sector workers suffered to a far greater extent.
If Government falters now and gives in to the unions, we will start the process of heading for another bust. Now is the time to consolidate our gains to date and ensure we are in a position to fight any other calamity that might come our way.
If we do have a few loose shekels lying around, we should be looking at those individuals and those areas that have been worse hit and not at folk who are doing comparatively well.
Folk here are not badly off, no matter what they might think. Sure, we’d all like to be getting more money and having more holidays, and so on, but there’s only so much that can be taken from the proverbial well.
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