Building confidence - A realism based on optimism

THE results of a survey published today suggest that you are as likely to find an optimistic Irish person as you are to find a contrite banker.

Peninsula Ireland spoke to over 1,000 workers and found that almost 700 of them were worried about job security, wondering how long more they might have work to pays their bills. This is a startling figure and points to a crash in our confidence, our resilience and the bloody-minded optimism that has served us so very well in the past.

If they accurately reflect the national mood then hundreds of thousands of us are tossing and turning through the night trying to figure out what the future holds.

An even larger proportion of those surveyed thought they had an idea of what the future might bring and they do not at all like what they see.

Nearly eight-out-of-10 workers don’t think they will ever have enough money to retire. This is a terrible situation to be in, especially as so many of these workers have, all through their working lives, invested in various pension funds only to see those nest eggs evaporate either because of incompetent investment managers or the consequences of the economic collapse.

It highlights once again that so very many workers are at the mercy of the financial sector when it comes to providing for their retirement. This unequal and highly exploitative relationship, and the refusal of previous governments to implement EU directives on pension bonds, would entitle anyone to fell less than enthusiastic about the prospect of securing a moderate retirement income.

That this situation applies primarily to private sector workers exacerbates an already fraught situation. It confirms once again the need for a pensions minister and a determination to establish a fair and secure — as is possible at least — pension scheme for all workers.

Of course this survey can be challenged by comparing it to another very recent one which found that we consider ourselves “among the most fulfilled and optimistic in the world”. Irish people recently came 10th in a Gallup league table of nations. More than six-out-of-10 — 62% — of the 1,000 Irish people surveyed said they were “thriving”. Gallup figures put us just behind Australia (65%) and Canada (69%).

Irrespective of our grim new reality we are, and we realise it, considerably better off than the citizens of Haiti (3%) and Chad (1%).

In a peculiarly but reassuringly Irish way, these surveys represent two sides of the same coin and are probably both true. We know we’re in trouble but we’re dammed if it’s going to get us down; we can be pessimistic and optimistic at the same time if that’s what it takes to get through the day.

The perfect combination for the times we live in — a cold realism balanced by hope and perspective.