As a long-term Fine Gael supporter, I face a dilemma over party
The reason has less to do with the Irish Water fiasco, or the raft of broken promises, or even the securing of the financial lifeboats for themselves, the insiders and their cronies as the ship of state went down.
Of course it has a lot to do with the hamfisted, brutal and lopsided policy of austerity and the resultant catastrophic financial, emotional and personal devastation for many, particularly among the most vulnerable in society, the young, the sick, the disabled and the aged.
The seeds of the demise, however, were set in January of 2012 when Enda Kenny, in an appalling and irresponsible misrepresentation of the facts, denigrated and embarrassed the Irish people to the world in Davos, when he accused us all of ‘going mad with borrowing’.
This was quickly followed by Big Phil Hogan, in an unprecedented move against those objectors to the LPT, unleashing Revenue to unilaterally extract monies from their bank accounts, pensions and social welfare payments.
While this was regarded as a master stroke at the time in Government Buildings, it clearly demonstrated to all and sundry that this government was ruthless and would stop at nothing in appeasing their European masters.
One of the most insidious actions must surely be the sanctioning by Michael Noonan of the sale of 36,000 Irish Nationwide residential mortgages to American hedge fund, Lone Star.
These loans were sold en bloc below par without giving the Irish mortgagees an equal chance to avail of the same concessions given to the vulture fund.
According to Noonan, this was done for efficiency reasons.
It may well have been efficient but it was another fatal indication of the coalition’s callous disregard for the ordinary Irish family, many of which were, and are, heavily indebted and in the deadly grip of negative equity.
The final straw for many was the catalogue of mistakes, misjudgements, cronyism and incompetence which have enfolded since the troika departed.
This sad scenario poses a dilemma for this long-term Fine Gael supporter as it is clear that the coalition, with its huge majority and moral authority after the last election, lost a huge opportunity to fundamentally change the old corrosive way of doing business, and to change politics forever to benefit all Irish people equally.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
