Forget the recession — the people have taken power from the ‘patriots’

IT’s hard to know whether I should be congratulating Brian and Brian or Mary — they have all played a blinder.

They have huffed an puffed about what they really meant and how they were misunderstood. They huffed and puffed again saying something different that was according to them the same.

The language of confusion has been fascinating. It also shows the difficulty of having two legal people pulling the strings. They could have been speaking Chinese to native Irish speakers such was the confusion they caused. They treated the people as mindless gombeens. John B Keane, if he were around today, would be consulting his copyright lawyer.

Mary (the health minister who is a member of the VHI) was there, too — but where? I am unsure as she seemed never to have spoken to Brian and Brian.

For a long time I thought Irish people had given up the fight. Everyone seemed smug, satisfied and happy; they had no concerns and seemed to take all that was thrown at them as inevitable.

I got upset at the road tolls. My friends told me pay up and shut up.

When I suggested a day when we all paid and waited for change, they said I was wired to the moon. I felt the queues would be so long the tolls would be abolished at the stroke of a pen solely as a result of people power.

When I took issue with a TD over his ageist comments I was told by a 52-year-old who expected to lose his job and never work again — “Sure that’s the way it is”. Now that the three Dáil patriots have given the power back to the people, they have made us angry. Even the normally complacent students and party faithful are protesting and the pensioners are harassing TDs. We are back to public meetings, protest marches and unavailable government spokespeople.

I hope in time history will be kind to them and they will be remembered not for their budget but for giving power back to the people.

It is marvellous that we have our pride back; we can only go forward as a nation. Forget the recession — they have achieved more in this for the people than bailing out the banks.

Thanks to all three career politicians, things will never be the same again. My friends have returned and started to realise we can change things by fighting back.

Paul Egan

Whitethorn

Tullaghanogue

Trim

Co Meath