Egypt and Ireland - Parallels show reform is urgent

THERE are more than enough parallels between the situation in Egypt and Ireland to offer a few lessons to those who might wish to learn them.

Though the scale and intensity are completely different, the Cairo demonstrations that have cost at least 300 lives so far and the great anger that threatens the future of this country’s most influential political organisation have the very same roots.

Both countries have just lost leaders because they were forced from office. Both populations are utterly disaffected because their country has been run into the ground. Both are determined to recreate conditions vital to public wellbeing — economic and psychological — and the sense of optimism that underpins functioning societies. Both are outraged by a sense of injustice that permeates their society.