Mr. Paddy Kelly has been rubbing our noses in it, between speaking at summer schools, implying his debts don't really worry him and then glorifying on the front page of the Irish Times in *his victory over officialdom by getting the City Sheriff to return his car and apologise to his wife. Yes, we know the car is technically registered in his wife's name as is the Merecedes that was pictured in the driveway of his downsized house on Morehampton Road in Donnybrook, Dublin 4.
Like all "little people", I have been affected by recent events. One of my sons is going into 6th class this year. In his national school there will two 6th classes, as opposed to the three in previous years, resulting in bigger classes. The school has lost language assistants which will affect*all pupils as the progress of classes will be slowed up and stresses on teachers will increase. Remedial class and co-curricular resources have also been curtailed.
My partner works in a major hospital. Wards are seriously short staffed, both of qualified nurses and of English speaking nurses. The HSE have started to replace departing nurses with lesser qualified and less expensive attendants. Most nurses qualifying this year will not be employed. Wards are closing. Waiting lists for operations are lengthening. If you do not have private health insurance you and your relatives could face a longer and worrying wait for treatment. The treatment in private hospitals is not superior, but, access to treatment is quicker due to the patients being wealthier.6
Another son is finishing secondary school next year. I fear how cutbacks in 3rd level opportunities and resources will impact on his future and our family budgets, never mind his chances of employment.
I have been made redundant. In the short term, I am relatively okay compared to other people. I am not heavily in debt. Luckily I did not take the Celtic Tiger sucker punch of accepting the generosity of the banks by moving to the trophy home with an additional buy-to-rent apartment and Range Rover or BMW X5 lobbed on top of a remortgage like many of my peers. *I am approaching the end of my mortgage on my adequate semi-d, though it would not be deemed worthy as a residence for *Mr. Kelly or Mr. Fitzpatrick. *In the long term, I am preparing *to go to London or Canada as a 50+ mature migrant. Fortunately, *I have experience of London in the 1970's and 1980's to draw on!
What is happening to my family is happening to most other families to a lesser or more degree across this island. It really upsets me to see young couples under so much pressure due to unemployement, unbearable debts and other pressures - in the majority of cases not caused by greed or their mistaken actions. Hearing of talented and educated young men and women in our neighborhood, city and beyond expressing feelings of despair and planning to emigrate, sometimes illegally, really makes me question: what progress have we made over the past thirty years?*
Myself and the majority of other citizens who have worked hard, resided in this country, paid all their taxes, contributed to society and reared and educated their children, have not availed of tax shelters, have never entered the political tents at race meetings, have never swaggered into the Shelbourne Bar, the Four Seasons, the Unicorn Restaurant, the Town & County Grill and other centres of mutual self-righteous recognition *and have never been glorified in magazines or the social columns of the newspapers as heroes of the new Ireland.
We certainly don't have wealth to transfer to our partners and spouses to prevent our money correctly falling into the hands of debt collectors and revenue commissioners.
A little humility displayed by Mr. Kelly, the other developers, the politicians, the policy making civil servants and the bankers who have contributed to the current economic and social state of the Nation would be appreciated by the true patriotic citizens who are being levied and increasingly taxed in an effort to save this poentially great Country from economic ruin.*
Jangling the keys of a BMW 7 Series as if they are the spoils of a justifiably fought war is indicative of the morally bankrupt value system of a republic that has*failed the youth, the older generation and the less fortunate.