Ireland ought to, of course, provide a welcoming environment for business and for employees generally. However, we ought not to be so accommodating that we reduce our people back to the conditions we suffered 100 years ago. A democratic republic is intended to shelter its citizens from the harshness of the world, and to provide a share of the benefits of the upside of the society and economy that we create, together. These are the primary purposes of democracy. Ireland is failing, miserably, in this respect. Instead - our governments have done precisely the opposite. They have, gradually, since the 1970s, transferred business risks onto ordinary people and onto the public purse.
In 2008, we saw the consequences of that policy when a massive fraud was perpetrated upon the people. Contrary to the public statements by our government that crisis is not over. A huge number of families are STILL experiencing those consequences today, in lower wages, disadvantageous terms and conditions of employment, homelessness, and the prospect of life far less prosperous than that of the last few generations. That process has to be reversed. Businesses - and certainly larger businesses ought to take their own risks, and the consequences of their own decisions. We must set about the business of creating a real democratic society - in which risks sit where they belong, and the benefits accrue to the many, not to the few. We can make no real progress on social affairs, or any real progress on the existential crisis of Climate Change until we grow up, and stop putting business before people and the environment.
