Rebuilding Ireland - FF delusion an obstacle to recovery

IT takes a special kind of blindness to persist with declarations of innocence when your policies, and your mismanagement of the consequences of those policies, become the catalyst for international intervention in the fundamental affairs of your country.

Yet, despite the arrival of the IMF in Dublin, Fianna Fáil grandees refuse to recognise that they are the central players in this tragedy. They rely on their armour-plated egos to try to shrug off criticism. They describe the entirely natural and angry reaction of anyone who cares for this country as being hysterical. They suggest a reasonable but critical analysis might cause panic and undermine confidence in our ability to rebuild this country. Can they really be serious?

Maybe these are the delusions that seduce otherwise rational and decent people after more than a decade in power. Maybe they are the delusions that people who have failed on a spectacular scale need to cling to to sustain any sliver of self-esteem.