‘Waving bye’ to troika is misplaced sentiment

Now that Dec 15 has passed, I want to remark on a cloying cliché doing the rounds in the media in the last couple of months: the phrase, “waving goodbye to the troika”.

For me, this phrase implies a fond farewell on the part of the Irish people, crowds thronging the streets and airport, tears welling in their dewy eyes and hankies at the ready, as if bidding a reluctant, bittersweet adieu to some kindly benefactor, rather than a group that socialised private debt, slashed the wages and conditions of ordinary workers and who, without electoral mandate, inflicted austerity on, if not all, then the vast majority of Irish citizens.

There is, in this choice of wording, a suggestion of friendly disposition that is entirely misplaced, given the circumstances, but which speaks volumes about our national character.