A fair society - Warnings Government must heed

TWO events this weekend suggest that communities and individuals are beginning to come together to challenge the forces that shape our lives for better or worse.

Though unconnected, the events sent the same message to our Government and the banks: we’ve had enough and you need to listen.

In Navan an estimated 11,000 people marched to demand that acute services be restored to the town’s hospital. There’s nothing unusual about people marching to try to protect a local service but Saturday’s demonstration made an impression because of the unexpected numbers involved.

Organisers had suggested that 5,000 people might turn up but more than twice that number marched. The 11,000 figure suggests that almost half the population of the town and its immediate area – according to census 2006 – are angry enough with the Government decision to protest loudly and publicly.

It is reasonable to assume that the issue was at least as much symbolic as specific and that the turnout was such because very many people are angry with our Government’s appalling leadership and performance.

It is also reasonable to assume that, if the right issue was identified, equally representative demonstrations would be seen right across the country. This assumption confirms recent poll figures which put Fianna Fáil support at an unprecedented 18%. In reality, the Navan march did little more than confirm the poll’s accuracy.

The second and more unexpected development was the establishment of a group of barristers who will, in certain circumstances, represent homeowners who face losing homes because they can’t repay mortgages.

The barristers, who will not charge for their services, will take court actions against lenders who may have ignored duty-of-care obligations by lending unwisely.

You would not have to be a forensic accountant to recognise that a good proportion of the loans advanced to home buyers at the height of the property boom were risky. Many can’t be repaid because they should not have been advanced in the first place.

Ireland, unlike other countries, loads the dice in favour of the lender in these circumstances. If a lender sells a house after it is repossessed it can still pursue the original mortgage holder for the balance between the outstanding debt, plus all sorts of penalties and interest, and the new selling price. Nearly all the risk is assumed by the borrower, little or none by the banks. The banks thought they could not lose and lent accordingly.

The barristers’ extremely laudable move is aimed at making reckless banks face the consequences of their actions. Sadly, it says a lot about Ireland and our political classes that it took a group of individuals to do what Government should have done long ago.

Five weeks from tomorrow Brian Lenihan will have the unenviable task of introducing a budget that satisfies the markets, Angela Merkel and, almost as an afterthought, the citizens of Ireland.

As he prepares it he should remember that the great majority of Irish people want to live in a society that is fair and where families are protected from rogue bankers. If he does that he can expect co-operation, if not he can expect something that will begin to look like chaos.