Failing to take the ‘hard decisions’

I KEEP hearing government ministers and TDs claim that the catastrophic collapse in their party’s vote was a result of them having to take “hard decisions” because of the economic crisis.

But I think those who claim the public punished them only because they had to take hard decisions are wrong. Yes, the voters may have punished the government parties when they experienced the wages reducing, social benefit slashing, cervical cancer immunisation denying results of these decisions, but I believe the voters punished the government parties even more for the hard decisions they didn’t take.

The Government didn’t take the hard decision to use every possible means, including emergency legislation to allow the government to seize the property of those who owe us millions, to ensure that debts owed to the people via the nationalised banks, or via banks that have received public funding, are paid either in cash or in kind right now, not in years to come.

Nor did it take the hard decision to ensure that those responsible for the economic crisis in Ireland bore the cost of it, not those who were not responsible, as is the case at the moment.

Indeed, the government hasn’t even taken the hard decision to fulfil its promise to ensure that “everyone will share the pain” necessary to combat the crisis.

Have property developers, financial speculators, bankers and other casino capitalists, and wealthy people who have shifted their wealth to tax havens shared the pain? Have TDs and ministers shared the pain?

Has the wealthy section of the population generally, shared the pain say in equal measure to the young people who had their dole payment reduced in a situation where there are no jobs?

Of course the pain hasn’t been shared because the Government hasn't had the guts to take the hard decisions necessary to share the pain equally among the population.

But the most important hard decision of all that the government didn’t take, was the decision, hard to take under WTO, World Bank and free-market capitalist globalisation pressure, not only to curtail the greed that drives free market capitalism, but the hard decision not to encourage that greed with such things as tax-breaks and keeping quite about huge salaries bonuses and pensions common in the corporate sector, when thousands of people, including children lived on the edge of poverty.

When I hear government parties blaming the “hard decisions” they had to take for their punishment by the voters, the phrase “monumental hypocrisy” comes to mind.

Brian Abbott

Glencairn

Cork