Well stone the crows! The Irish Government has actually started acting like they're running the place! That's if you believe they will do as they say and stick to their plan to cut public sector wages by 7%.
Nevertheless, this is a good sign. For two years now, the Cowen regime has been catatonic while the economy plunged to historic lows, despite the exasperated goading of most of the press and, indeed, our European partners.
It now seems the major problem was Fianna Fail's coalition difficulties with the leftist Greens, combined with the sensitivities in getting the Lisbon Treaty passed the second time around.
However, the public sector unions are gearing up for the mother of a fight in order to protect their superior position in comparison to the rest of the Irish workforce. So be it, say the vast majority of us. But clearly they believe Fianna Fail is on the point of collapse, and with the possible exception of the Finance Minister, haven't the stomach for a fight that has no upside for them.
Obviously, the very survival of the Republic as an autonomous economy is of little interest to the politicians or the vested interests. That is unfortunate. But, to paraphrase George W Bush, if this sucka goes down, they all go down with it. That is probably why our 'leaders' will fall into line with the little people in the end, and go along with the long-postponed austerity measures our crisis demands. Although it's probably going to be a very rocky and miserable time in the interval, as all the people who can wreck the economy will be tempted to do as much damage as they can in a sort of 'primal scream' against the loss of money and more importantly, status.
Let's get on with this Budget and in the meantime pray that someone in the government has the backbone to do the right thing, no matter what the intimidation may entail.
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