I’m tired of it all — and still I let it happen

I’m tired of being told that I live in one of the richest countries in the world.

I’m tired of being told that economics takes precedence over everything.

I’m tired of the media telling me that I have never had it so good.

I’m tired of opinion polls that never reflect what I believe.

I’m tired of the acres of space given over to pointless tribunals where we get to hear endless repeats of claim and counter-claim, and yet we see no justice.

I’m tired of bank advertisements that fail to mention they were responsible for setting up illegal schemes and yet they are not held to account.

I’m tired of the harrowing stories of abuse and neglect and of the way that this Government has cut back where it hurts the most.

I’m tired of a Government that opens more pubs than youth centres and that funds more golf clubs than playgrounds.

I’m tired of the ‘me’ culture.

I’m tired of the media circus which is more concerned about wedding seating arrangements than the hundreds of Traveller families denied accommodation.

I’m tired of a parliament that tries to create an impression of serious debate and a work ethic but then takes holidays at the drop of a hat.

I’m tired of schools where the rats outnumber the children.

I’m tired of road carnage and gangland violence.

I’m tired of domestic violence.

I’m tired of opinion pieces that sit comfortably on the fence.

I’m tired of analysis that smacks of intellectual dishonesty and instead plays the personality game.

I’m tired of soap opera politics.

I’m tired of IBEC and of ICTU.

I’m tired of the ERSI and of CORI.

I’m tired of the hero worship culture.

I’m tired of Boston or Berlin.

I’m tired of drunken politicians and the religious who continue to torture their victims.

I’m tired of the arrogance that treats people as commodities.

I’m tired of the scaremongering and creation of fear about anything which isn’t white or pink-skinned.

I’m tired of an opposition that is afraid to be cast as innovative and which thinks that it is functioning if it appears to slightly less offensive than the Government.

I’m tired of hospital queues and waiting lists and of the portrayal of health workers as leeches.

I’m tired of investment bankers and economics gurus who have free rein in all media.

I’m tired of computers and e-mails and mobile phones and TV programmes where tall and thin people tell me what I should wear and what I should eat and where I should go on my holidays.

And I’m sorry. Sorry that I have sat back and let this happen to my country.

Let it happen while I was there. Listening and watching. And letting it happen.

But my tiredness has just about gone full circle. And I’m not a member of a political party or a trade union.

So, I guess I’ll have to get off my own little fence and get to it. And take my citizenship back.

Murt Flynn,

30, Irishtown,

New Ross,

Co Wexford.