GREEDY OLD IRELAND   

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 1980's 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 country's 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 O'Leary 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

About the Author

John lives in Ireland with his wife Jackie and their

three sons.John's work has been used by various organisations in

Ireland and the USA. He was invited to the Milwaukee Irish Festival in

2003 to show off Ireland in their Culture Tent. Recently he has teamed

up with Michael Londra to produce a DVD called Look Around Ireland to

the tenor voice of Michael Londra.