Bankrupt in policy and credit – then and now

MY father Raymond Crotty, a proud Irishman, wrote the following during the economic crisis of the 1980s. Unfortunately, it seems even more appropriate in today’s Ireland.

“Of the political establishment, can it be said with even greater truth what Padraig Pearse wrote (‘Christmas 1915’) of those who had taken over the mantle of Parnell 25 years earlier: ‘The men who have led Ireland for 25 years have done evil, and they are bankrupt. They are bankrupt in policy, bankrupt in credit, bankrupt now even in words. They have nothing to propose to Ireland, no way of wisdom, no counsel of courage. When they speak, they speak only untruth and blasphemy. Their utterances are no longer of men. They are mumblings and gibberish of lost souls.’

My father added: “Power-hungry people, concerned to strut for a moment on the stage of history, they have done whatever was necessary to get and retain office. Then they allowed inertia of office to carry them and the nation further down the blind alley of dependence and undevelopment.” – ‘A Radical’s Response’, Raymond Crotty, 1988.