No photo op when 10,000 jobs are lost

511 companies have closed so far this year, a loss of 5,000 to 10,000 jobs, according to the latest Company Registration Office figures.

No sign of Taoiseach Enda Kenny or Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton jostling for the photo opportunity at any of these calamitous, life-changing events, where ordinary people lost their jobs and livelihoods. No succour for the entrepreneurs or small-business owners, many of whom have been financially ruined and whose hopes and dreams have been destroyed, often as a direct result of counterproductive, relentless government austerity measures.

These closures represent the hidden, unsung reality of life in the trenches today, out of sight and away from the spin doctors and the PR consultants. Nothing to spin here and no winners, except the new troika of liquidators, banks and lawyers.

For those unfortunates involved, their apocalyptic business closures are just collateral irritants for a government devoid of empathy or vision.

Unbelievably, Finance Minister Michael Noonan is under orders and unapologetically hell bent on pilling misery upon misery, by extracting another €2bn from the heart of the Irish economy in the next year.

When will they ever learn? Maybe sometime after May 23.

John Leahy

Wilton Road

Cork