Forget being softly-softly with the unions — rather, lay down the law

IN AN ideal world every new year should start on an optimistic note. The change in the calendar offers a psychological opportunity for change, for betterment, for renewal. Whatever went before is past and all can be started afresh.

Well not this year, I’m afraid. If you want false optimism, sugar-coating, delusion even, about the state of the Irish economy and its impact on the lives most of us lead then you won’t be getting it here. Bad as 2008 was for most people, 2009 is going to be even worse.

Standards of living are going to decline for nearly everybody, as incomes fall and taxes rise. Falling prices will not provide enough compensation. Hundreds of thousands of more people will lose their jobs. Many businesses — especially those dependent on exports to Britain and screwed by the surge in the value of the euro against sterling — will go bust. Public services are going to be harder to access and will cost more; some that we have become used to receiving may not be provided at all.