Mapping out power and responsibility

I HAVE a map of the world on my kitchen wall and I can clearly see the relative size of Germany and France and the US to Ireland.

We are a small island no longer completely tied to the British economy, but nonetheless we are hugely subject to world economic fluctuations.

Germany and France will suit themselves and their domestic economies up to the point where rescue of the euro necessitates action.

Less than a year ago we changed government in a dramatic election on the basis that Fianna Fáil ruined the country but have continued with the economic policy and strategy put in place by Fianna Fáil. Perhaps the reality of our economic vulnerability on the world and European fronts needed to be learned, but we should also remember the power of the printed and spoken word in influencing how people behave both in the democratic process and in the domestic economy.

I believe that journalism and journalist “experts” have become the new religion and hold an enormous power, with which must come a huge responsibility.

Caitriona McClean

Lucan

Co Dublin