FÁS scandal - Betrayals must have consequences

ANGER can be a destructive if natural response to all sorts of situations. In the last year or so far too many Irish people have had occasion, far too many occasions, to be angry.

People have been angry with bankers and politicians. Some of the more self-aware amongst us have been angry with themselves; angry that they — we — were so easily seduced by the idea of borrowing money to make a guaranteed quick buck. Some are angry that the prospect of leading perfectly ordinary lives, with a job, a modest home, a small, happy family and the ability to pay for it all seems to have disappeared. We’ve been angry too that employers moved profitable companies to low-cost economies.

Most of all we’ve been angry when we’ve been betrayed by people who enjoyed our trust. We’re even angrier that these betrayals have had no consequences. The immoral behaviour of FÁS directors has come to epitomise all that is wrong in this country. Arrogant, deluded people, relatively minor functionaries wasting our money acting like plutocrats.