Stoicism should not be misunderstood

In his opening St Patrick’s Day weekend engagements in America, Taoiseach Enda Kenny pointed to the well-tested stoicism and determination of the Irish people.

Speaking to business leaders in Washington, he acknowledged the pragmatism shown by the great majority of people during the darkest, early days of the financial crisis. A pragmatism that meant we went, in a relatively short time, from the pressing immediacy of the greatest financial crisis in the State’s history almost to the point in the boom-and-bust cycle that seemed to offer the prospect of some sort of recovery.

Our acceptance of the remedy was not really an option; we were led to it by our new and recently departed paymasters — the Troika.

If truth be told it did seem as if we were careering towards some sort of calamity where our prospects and freedom would have been in the gravest jeopardy. Currency collapse was a very real fear and we would gladly have settled for some sort of stability.

That we did all this without sliding into the kind of street violence that further undermined other eurozone countries points to practical stoicism, even if our calm reaction was mocked by some leading street protests in Spain and Greece.

This quality is a strength that should not be misunderstood or underestimated. That some political forces try to exploit it, and the hardships it makes tolerable, shows an interpretation that must bring their judgement and motives into question.

If that reaction can be described as stoical determination then others were expressing their stoical resignation in a very different way just as Mr Kenny was speaking in America.

Nearly 4,000 Irish people — 3,850 — snapped up work visas for Canada in less than 10 minutes after they became available online. All of these people are aged between 18 and 35, representatives of the very generation that carry so many of the hopes for this country’s future, and are stoical enough to accept that their best prospects lie outside this country. Emigration has been a central part of our culture for centuries, which is underlined by the fact that so many politicians are visiting Irish communities around the world this weekend.

Though their primary objective will be strengthening business and cultural links, an important part of their visits will be reaffirming that being Irish, no matter how remote in time or distance, still matters.

Mr Kenny and his colleagues should not confuse our capacity to be stoical with a kind of dullards’ mute acceptance though.

Recent weeks have highlighted deep failures in standards and administration in An Garda Síochána, spectacular hubris at the Department of Justice, something approaching a free-for-all in the charity sector and shocking report after shocking report from the health sector; so there are many, many challenging issues that need to be resolved before the ever-more imminent general election comes around.

Mr Kenny is right to recognise our stoicism but he would be unwise to rely too heavily on it. Hell may have no fury like a woman scorned but a stoic pushed too far seems at least as daunting a prospect.