Bullworth, good post. In my opinion the government hasn't been running the country for the last ten years. It has been run from the the Department of the Taoiseach by Bertie and then Brian in conjunction with the Social Partners (the golden circle of union fat-cats and developers and in the background; the bankers). That's the root of most of our problems; the people elected by the people to govern for the people were shoved aside by the vested interest groups that carved up the country. The builders got their tax breaks and the public sector unions got their massive pay hikes and the rest of us were left voiceless.
This link posted on another thread to show our national debt has some very good comments on this topic below.
This link posted on another thread to show our national debt has some very good comments on this topic below.