Legacy of Ahern is just one of denial

Atex_Imports

Friday, May 09, 2008

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the US Congress: "I am happy as the first Irish leader in history to say there is peace on the island of Ireland."

However, many would disagree. There is no doubt that north/south relations have thawed, but we are a long way from normalisation. And there is no greater example of this than sectarian flash points such as the Lower Ormeau and Garvaghy roads and other areas where beds of roses are not to be found.

As usual, his words were spoken with too much gusto, giving them an apocryphal feel augmented by his own lack of personal credibility on the domestic stage.

Bertie Ahern's legacy is one of contradiction and denial. The Republic is officially the most debt-ridden country in Europe, as much as four or more times over the EU average for personal debt. Mortgages total £138.8bn, credit cards total £2.85bn, which equals £33,733 for every person in the Republic, with a final massive total of £142bn owed for a population of just 4.3 million. Inflation is sky high in some areas because of the lack of real competition and ongoing protectionism, where most of the market is dominated by cartels or wholesalers who have the market cornered.

It's not possible to own a house unless you are earning at least £50,000 a year (£37,000) and only with a second income to pay off a back-breaking mortgage that will see you live with no social life whatsoever.

So-called economic success in the Republic during the Ahern era was built on the back of a reckless bank lending policy that has most people working every hour God gives them, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul in a desperate effort to keep up with the bogus Celtic tiger rhetoric that's eating them alive.

The health service in the Republic is disappearing fast, frustrated with bureaucracy, and tense industrial relations have got no better with the passage of time. People have lost all faith in the political system to deliver, while Ahern soothsays the nation and the world with outrageous propaganda and long-fingered proposals for reform that never comes.

There is no doubt that Bertie Ahern has learned good oration skills and endearment, just like his crooked predecessor Charles J Haughey, and is good at meeting people, but as always the 'empty can rattles the most' as head of a nation of strained artificial economics and pigheadedness!

MAURICE FITZGERALD

Ringaskiddy, Co Cork