It is the 3rd of August 2007 and in Ireland it still raining! Where
is the nearest mental home??? I want to see the men in the white
coats!
The biggest event of the Irish summer season is the Galway Races.
This is where the wealth and the power in Ireland is congregated, for
a full week, into the various commercial marquees, to talk and work
the floor, in a classic networking emporium that suits the Irish
business psyche the best. The politicians will mix with shakers and
movers and every conversation will have a motive for taking place.
There is drink and food in abundance, the opportunity to meet anybody
who is anybody, and deals will be done in a haze of alcohol and
gambling, probably to be regretted when the implications are realized
back at the office a week later.
The Galway Races are, however, still a wonderful mix of the
sophisticated socialites and the rural dwellers and farmers, young
and old, who are there for the craic which in this case means drink,
gambling and sex, not necessarily in that order! For many people the
horses are a secondary attraction, and the fillies in the bars and
clubs merit more attention.
The races run for seven days now and bring massive revenues to the
city of Galway and its environs. This year that income will be
particularly welcome because of the recent water contamination
problem that hit parts of the city and county. This has scared many
potential tourists from visiting the area as well as making life very
difficult for families and commercial enterprises. This problem, of
course, is being blamed on local county council who had not upgraded
sanitation plants in line with the massive increase in population of
the area. The blame really should be directed at the government who
had not allocated adequate finance to the local authorities to carry
out the necessary improvements.
This brings me nicely to the gripe of the week!
Yesterday the final link in the M1 motorway from Dublin to Belfast
was opened between north of Dundalk to Newry. There is now what is
known as the North/South Corridor in existence. Needless to say all
the politicians and assorted hangers-on were out in force at the
official opening to bullshit about the wonderful opportunities this
will create. These are the same politicians, from successive
governments, who should have this road (and many others for that
matter) built in the 1980s when they were getting funds specifically
for that purpose from the EU in Brussells . Instead, because of their
mismanagement of the economy and gross incompetence, these funds were
unlawfully diverted to day to day spending because of the huge
current budget deficit that they, and not the people, had allowed to
accumulate.
Ireland is light years
behind the rest of Europe in terms of infrastructure. Last week a
survey found that, per capita, the country is one of the richest in
the world, ahead of America and the UK no less. Nobody, from anywhere
in the world, who spent time here would realize that so called
fact.
Our medical service is probably lesser in quality than many African
countries that the Government sends money to each year to improve
their health system. People go to A+E and lie sick on trolleys for
days on end. There are very few regional health centres that treat
cancer, for example. Thus, unfortunate people and their families
travel long distances to get treatment in Dublin hospitals which are
themselves under huge pressure to service the needs of the areas to
which they are allocated. The system is top-loaded with
administration staff on high wages thanks to the crazy benchmarking
process that Bertie Ahern agreed to some years ago.
This monster that has been created will haunt the country for decades
to come. In his permanent pose of trying to please all people at
once, Bertie has bent over and given into greedy union demands for
equalisation of pay in the public sector . Thus if the firemen get a
rise, the Gardai will have to get one and so on and on. All the
various public sector services are therefore linked into this
benchmarking process. In return the unions promised greater
productivity from their members. How laughable this is! Public
service workers do not live in the real world. They are cosseted in
warm wool, provided by the rest of the countrys workers, self
employed and businesses paying taxes to get a service that should be
provided by half their number, and half of their cost. They would not
know what productivity was if it hit them in the face and then gave
them a French kiss!
This giveaway by Benchmark Bertie has already cost the country 1
billion euro and that is just from Phase 1 of the process. Ireland
really is a country that is living on borrowed time. Around the
corner and fast approaching is a recession. Jobs are being lost left,
right and centre. Why?
The answer is that we have priced ourselves out of the market because
of unnecessary wage inflation. No wonder the multinationals are
leaving in their droves, to East European countries and further
abroad.
The good times are about to come to an end. The first people that
will be hit are the ordinary workers and self employed, together with
small business owners. The very last people that will feel the pinch
will be the protected public sector who will continue to suck the
life out of the economy to the very end. These leeches will not face
reality because they do not have ability to do so. They will play
their violins while the Titanic sinks!
Here is a proposal that might save the day.
The country is managed by incompetents and their minions, the public
service workers. These people are not managers. So get in some hard
nosed business tycoons to do the job for a price.
Pay Dermot Desmond 50 million euro to design the concept that will
run the country right. When Dermot has the concept drawn up (in
probably 2 weeks), get Michael OLeary to implement it. Michael will
not be cheap, but he will do the job. His cost will be probably be
less than price that is paid every year for the storage of obsolete
electronic voting machines. Public servants will quiver in their
boots for the first time and soiled underwear could be the order of
the day.
But what a great day that would be!
Seamus Maguire
lookaroundireland.com
