Honestly, we all had our snouts in the trough

THE current frenzy to apportion blame for our economic woes misses the point.

The economy passed the point of no return some time ago. The EU will assume control not because it wants to but because we have shown ourselves to be incapable of managing our own affairs.

We have one of the smallest populations of any EU member state, but we have the highest paid politicians and public service.

Our national overheads are simply too high so it is inevitable that our economy and businesses must fail. We are very fortunate that we have kindly neighbours who will come to our aid but we would be foolish to think they will continue to support our profligacy.

I would not normally support the concept of national stereotypes, but there appear to be certain national characteristics that underlie our inability to govern ourselves.

We blame our politicians, our bankers, our builders and while these parties may be more visible they only represent the Irish population at large. We all had our collective snouts in the trough while the good times rolled.

There were holidays in Spain for people on the dole, apartments in Bulgaria for anyone with a toehold in the property market, luxury cars bought with equity release from ridiculously inflated property prices and credit cards for all. Unfortunately, the rather narrow version of Catholic doctrine that permeates our society seems to have displaced any concept of civic or fiscal responsibility.

We lack any concept of public service. All we have is a series of cartels and restrictive practices from the so-called professions of medicine and law through the trade unions and on to the HSE, FÁS, Dublin Airport Authority, RTÉ and the myriad quangos that prey on the public purse.

I recently noted the change in title of SEI, or Sustainable Energy Ireland, to SEAI, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland – another empire being built on the back of the taxpayer. And so it goes on.

John O’Reilly

Ardroe

Sarsfields Court

Glanmire

Co Cork