Well, I recall housing being affordable to all in any sort of a paying job back then. Income tax was high, of course. Going to buy a house on a mortgage usually required a bridging loan also.
This was in large part down to governments which accepted the need to keep major components of the cost of living down: things like housing, rent and food. These governments weren't in the least bit socialist. Also in those days builders were working for themselves rather than competing for work proffered by some never-laid-a-block "developer". No one saw building a new shopping centre as being something that would "open up an economy and employment opportunities". It would just be something that shifted jobs from other retail centres and made shopping convenient for local residents.
I personally think that Joe's experiences with TCD management in the early 1980s gave him a bit of a fright. Taken in the context of someone who worked for years before getting a chance to enter college at 21, it must have been deflating to a new graduate in social studies (not "social work", as Duffy so often describes it
) looking for a job in recession-hit Ireland. Such things can make people suddenly change direction and sometimes become unnaturally conservative. An acquaintance back then who suggested - after innumerable strenuous market research projects - that management first discuss overtime, client deadlines, etc with a staff consultation group was told to find herself another job. Luckily she soon got hired by a rival firm started by an ex-colleague and international sportsman. But she lost her gumption in regard to issues of rights and became a bit of a hard nut herself to her juniors. It's a bit like those teenage girls who lose their social self-belief after a casual comment on their appearance by some ignorant pup they were naive enough to fancy.Many students union leaders in the 70s and 80s got into politics. Rabbitte, Gilmore, Bacik, etc come to mind. I thought a 1979 marque Duffy might have given it a serious lash. He had the voice of rage and he had a tight group of supporters - he didn't lack human empathy. But translating the rage against social injustice into plausible policy demanded more mental focus and administrative skill than he seems to have had.
In a sense old Duffer got a platform on the radio that few people in his métier ever could get to offer some comfort to the many insulted and injured of our society: the gravelly Ballyer voice was a boon to him in this. But of course in doing so he became part of a media machine that itself drew a living off increasingly profit-oriented businesses and from a state with declining interest in the casualties of capitalism. This always tied his hands as regards what he could do to change conditions for the vulnerable. At times it even restricted what he could say on air on their behalf. If he didn't like these restrictions, he could resign of course. He said that he nearly did resign once in relation to the imposition of McDowell on his show to essentially give a free political broadcast. But he opted not to do so. Where could he go without his platform ? Offer some serious competition to RTE from a commercial station ? Surely his hands would be tied even more if on the payroll of Denis O'Brien or suchlike. So he stayed on RTÉ's Liveline till he was 69, doing what he could to salve the hurt of so many.
I wonder will Liveline die without him . . .
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