We elected them and got what we deserved

PUBLIC anger at the budget is entirely misplaced — voters can only blame themselves.

The dogs in the street knew for years we had an incompetent, wasteful Government as well as an inept opposition. Yet we did nothing to change that over the last two elections.

Had we treated elections as a patriotic call to action, then we would not be in the position in which we now find ourselves.

In a true democracy we would have an obligation to each other and our children to elect only those who are capable of governing our nation for the common good.

But we don’t think that way. Those who are apathetic cannot be bothered to vote and the rest are only concerned with their own status and pockets. The fact that the majority prospered over the past 12 years meant there was no need to rock any boats.

If we had demanded accountability, integrity and competence from our TDs on all sides, then the positive results would be evident in every facet of our public services.

We would eventually have weeded out the incompetent TDs and civil servants, as well as the crooks who flourish in the system. Irish voters need to wake up and smell the heather.

The days of voting according to your families’ civil war affiliations should be long gone.

The days of voting for a TD because he or she helped to get planning permission for your daughter’s house or fix a pothole outside your door should also be long gone. It is conceivable that in some constituencies Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael could put Dustin the Turkey up for election and he would top the poll, such is the unwavering loyalty to party. So let’s face it, when it comes to electing a national parliament we are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

The diplomat, writer and philosopher Joseph de Maistre affirmed that “every country gets the government it deserves”.

Well, that applies to budgets too.

Jim Mullins

Cois Coillte

Gurteen

Inniscarra

Co Cork