Paul Hosford: Is this the Ireland we want to continue to build?

This country is now a place where a job and a college degree are not sufficient for all to earn a decent standard of living

For the children of the Celtic Tiger, the promise was made clear.

You went to school, did your work, got your Leaving Cert, went to college, got a degree, and got a job. That job and that job alone would be enough to open up cheap credit with which you could get on the property ladder.

It was, to all intents and purposes, a straight track. Sure, some of your pals would go travelling. Some might skip the college portion of the choose-your-own adventure book. But the goal remained the same. Get the job, get the “starter home”, and move on up.

In 2008, of course, we learned that road, that fast-track to Irish bliss was built on sand. And it is a fallout that has had long ramifications. The generation which came of age in the Ireland sifting through the wreckage of the financial crash did so at a time when the promises of lucrative jobs straight out of college were becoming extinct and a period of austerity was set to cast a pall over the country for years. Now, this generation is in its mid-30s and, after a decade of economic recovery, that promise has yet to return.

A cement mixer driven into the gates of Leinster House on September 29, 2010, as a gesture of protest at the financial crisis.

On Friday, the ESRI released a report which showed that 70% of those in Ireland who are experiencing material deprivation (not being able to afford to purchase two of 11 items from a list of essentials) are not classed as living in poverty. Of those below the poverty line, over one-third is in paid employment.

“Although they are at much lower risk of poverty, those living in households where someone of working age is in paid work still make up over one-third of those below the poverty line,” the report said, putting a stark figure on the number of working poor in Ireland.

Equally as stark, of that cohort, the majority (56%) of working poor households reported having someone with a third-level degree.

All poverty is inexcusable in a country as rich as Ireland. But to have a sizeable portion of people working and still be below the poverty line is doubly so. 

It is not just a failure of ideology, it is a failure of the very social contract which binds us together. Irish people aren’t lazy, they do not want to be given things. But they have even less desire to be reduced to asking for the bare essentials, reliant on foodbanks because work doesn’t pay enough for a roof over the head and food in the belly.

We all know that we are in a hyper-inflationary period and the price of everything is rising, but these are not new phenomena. These are the legacy of a promise not kept. Those Celtic Tiger kids are now adults in whatever this timeline of constant crisis is called and work and college are not enough to provide a decent standard of living for too many. And the sermonising will come in column inches and tweets. It will talk of cutting cloth, of personal responsibility, of this person did it, so can you. But there is only so much cloth that can be trimmed and there is a thin line between me and you and him and her.

And, besides, is this the Ireland we want to continue to build? One where survival is not just a bare minimum, but an aspiration sold to people who put in the work, who want to contribute but would also like a few euro left at the end of the week to enjoy something. Survival is often sold as a virtue to those on the fringes. 

The idea that we should make do and be happy with less than those who went before them is based on the idea that to be poor, working or otherwise, is a personal failing because we have established a society which measures wealth above contribution. If you are poor, therefore, you have come up short in a game sold to you as fair but rigged by forces far beyond your control. And that failing means that luxuries, enjoyment, and any form of distraction from your day-to-day is not a reasonable expectation.

It is no surprise that material deprivation is more keenly felt among private renters, those living with a disability, and those in minimum-wage employment, but it is felt across the social spectrum by 700,000 people.

The political ramifications of all of this are obvious. The 2020 election saw Sinn Féin take 22.3% of first preferences overall, but 31.75% of votes of those aged 18-34. A more detailed breakdown of those aged 35-49 is not available, but it stands to reason that the lower end of that cohort will have trended towards Mary Lou McDonald’s party. Much has been suggested about how the coalition parties can win back these voters. This ranges from the sensible (increase housing delivery and make homes more affordable) to the ridiculous (education on the horrors meted out by the Provisional IRA).

But this cohort could be won back by government parties. The vast majority are not ideologically moored to Sinn Féin. But what they see in that party is one which has not broken the social contract. That is not to say that Sinn Féin will not do so in government, but rather that it hasn’t, yet.

The pandemic, through its many horrors and tragedies, offered a chance to reset how we view the world around us. To a great extent, that chance has been squandered. 

Though there was much talk of the social contract and asking more of people at times of great national pressure, the return has not been felt.

Ireland is an objectively good place to live by any international standard. But it is now a place where a job and a college degree are not sufficient for all to earn a decent standard of living, begging the question: what more do they have to do to make the grade?

If this Government, or any successor to it, is serious about a Republic of equity, the social contract must be redrawn.

 

Did you know? 

Richard Cassells, the architect responsible for Leinster House, also designed the Rotunda Hospital, the Printing House in Trinity College Dublin, and Carton House. One of his other works was the Conolly Folly, an obelisk built between Celbridge and Maynooth. The structure is fenced off these days but is a protected monument. 

This week in years gone by

1908: November 4: The Irish Women's Franchise League was formed in the home of Hanna and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington and Margaret Cousins were arrested, charged, and jailed in 1912 for smashing windows at the GPO in protests for women's suffrage.

1960: November 8: Nine Irish peacekeeping soldiers were killed in an ambush by Baluba tribesmen in Niemba, Katanga.

1966: November 9: Jack Lynch became leader of Fianna Fáil in what was described as an "overwhelming victory". The Cork Examiner reported that Mr Lynch "crossed the biggest hurdle" when he defeated minister for industry and commerce George Colley by 52 votes to 19.

1981: November 6: Under the headline 'Co-op in Secret Talks with Junta', it was reported that a top-level government delegation from El Salvador had been involved in highly confidential trade talks with the Golden Vale co-op at Charleville, Co Cork. Then chairman of Trócaire, Bishop Eamonn Casey, intervened and appealed to the co-op to reconsider doing a milk powder deal with an "administration which had shown itself to be an evil one".

1990: November 8: Mary Robinson became the seventh President of Ireland and the first woman to win the race to the Áras, defeating Brian Lenihan and Austin Curry. The day after the historic poll, the Examiner reported that although Fianna Fáil was not officially conceding victory to Ms Robinson, both Mr Lenihan and national director of elections Bertie Ahern admitted that since the party had not achieved its target of 46% first preferences, it was now unlikely to win.

2002: November 6: Four Green Party TDs chained themselves to trees in Dublin’s O’Connell St. The 50 mature London Plane trees were due to be cut down to make way for 200 new, much smaller trees under a rejuvenation plan for the street.

Hot topics

Ukrainian crisis: Following the Government’s announcement of its moves to ease the accommodation logjam for Ukrainian refugees, all eyes will be on whether any of the ideas proposed work this week. On Friday, the Government agreed that refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine are to be offered “accommodation only” and will have to pay for their food and day-to-day expenses out of their welfare payments.

Breaking protocol: Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he will speak to the parties in the North this week, with questions now being raised about whether he will U-turn on a pre-Christmas election. He has said that the poll will go ahead, but has not yet set a date.

Benefit bounce? The double payment of child benefit, which will see 638,000 families paid €280 per child instead of the usual €140, will hit bank accounts this week. It will be interesting to see if the measure, which will cost the State €170m, will have a positive effect on polling for the Coalition.