An Emigrant's Opinion of Ireland

Hard to disagree with this piece from The Property Pin, this morning........


jonascollins Post subject: Re: Once again, Irelands young prepare to leave Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:48 am


Well after growing up through 21 years of the troubles, I had had enough of dear old Ireland got my secondary education (british taxpayer funded! lol - for which I remain extremely grateful) and left for uni in Scotland in 1986.

I did return for three years to Dublin in 2000, lured home with promises of a brave new land of opportunity, the tiger years etc etc.

After three years in the 'Glorious Republic', which many including myself had so aspired to throughout those dark years growing up in Belfast, I had seen enough and had enough and left again.

The blueprint for where we are today was well and truly laid during my short time back, and it was plain to see where it was heading. (Anyone in Britain in 1991 could have told you about housing booms, negative equity and the consequnces of both).

So the immediacy of the catastrophe that has recently befallen Ireland with the bust, is not that pertinent to me, (though I know a great many people affected by it, and see it first hand in my twice a year visits home).

Nevertheless morbid curiousity drives me to follow the Pin and take the nations pulse once in a while.

Two uncomfortable observations then, albeit I make them from safe distance.

1. Political and Religious leadership in Ireland (the two columns of stability in most societies) is demonstrably corrupt, self serving and degenerate, quite aside from plain incompetent.

I cannot believe that the 'people of Ireland' who previously displayed such passionate ability to resist and overthrow the worst excesses of the Colonnial period, now sit idly getting shafted mercilessly both literally and figuaratively by these elements, not to mention the new all powerful 'banking elite', who seem to have more power these days than the government and the church combined.

Conclusion - The Irish have indeed become Sheep?

2. Are the Irish really going to swallow or be forced to swallow the prescriptive remedy 'NAMA' (brought to you by the very Illumni who created the disaster), and take on the personal financial responsibility and liability for their obsecene debts and dereliction of duty. If so then we indeed dumber than I thought and all those Irish jokes were true. The David McWilliams articles refer.

Conclusion - The Irish people are indeed Stupid?

I am as unhappy about these conclusions as anybody posting here I imagine, and enduring the current appalling mess.

But is there another angle that I am missing here?

Even a decrepid High Court judge was inciting the people to dismantle the banks 'stone by stone' yesterday I understand.

That is if they could get off the sofa long enough and turn off the telly to give a ** presumably...

Baffled.

Far East.