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Budget 2011 thoughts
Opinion: It isn't the end of Ireland.
So, that was the Budget. Where were the swarms of locusts, the frogs falling from the heavens, the asteroids crashing into the earth and the tidal waves that threatened to destroy entire cities? Could it be that Budget 2011 won’t actually herald the end of Western, or at least Irish, civilisation? Because that’s the attitude that most of the nation’s media outlets appeared to have for the last few weeks.
I say this not as a churlish whippersnapper; cynical of the national media and ignorant of the huge problems we face in this country, but as someone with parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents who lived through the 1950s and 1980s, and came out the other side.
Recently, in another national newspaper, a writer quoted TS Eliot; “The world ends not with a bang, but a whimper”. Is this really necessary? The world is not ending; we are just going through an incredibly difficult economic period. Did the politicians of the late 1950s worry that the world was ending? No, they drafted the First Plan for Economic Development, and dragged Ireland into the 20th century, albeit sixty years too late. The defeatist, overblown attitude of so many people helps no-one.
The Oil Crisis of 1973 prompted a huge worldwide recession (admittedly not on the same scale as the one we currently face), but both western markets and people recovered. Perhaps it is just the way of global capitalism, that there must be considerable slumps before significant booms.
It must be said, however, that the Budget is severe, as we knew it would be. Social welfare, pensions, basic wages, minimum wage and child benefits are all down. However, this will surely lead to a drop in the prices of goods, and the cost of living.
Seemingly, like most of my generation, I was at the anti-college fees march in November, a fine example of political awareness, and a proud moment for students, before certain non-student groups marred the day with violence. I do not see my current attitude as a betrayal of the feelings I represented that day, however. I was opposed to extreme increases then, and I am now, but I understand that many, many people, unjustly, will have to take cuts. I regard that march as a relative success; registration fees have been increased by 33%, up to €2,000. This is admittedly steep, but is certainly better than the €3,000 fees that were being suggested before the march.
One of the great evils apparently, of a recession, is emigration. I find this highly ironic, as, during the boom when Ireland was a popular destination for emigrants looking for work, many people said that emigrants were taking Irish jobs. Personally, I do not hold a morbid fear of immigration; in fact I look forward to it after completing my degree. It does not do us any good to stay in our isolated little island forever, people need to see different parts of the world, and, as we saw during the Celtic Tiger, during a boom they will return. It also frees up more jobs at home.
I do believe, however, that a General Election is vital. Fianna Fáil must be removed from power as soon as possible. However, that will not solve things overnight, obviously. The replacements, in all probability a Fine Gael-Labour coalition, will have to continue the cuts. Regardless, Ireland will emerge from the recession; broken, but not beyond repair. I’d like to bring to mind W.B. Yeats’ play, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, where Ireland is represented first by an old hag, then by a beautiful young woman. That is the transformation we must go through again.
By: Ciaran Leinster
