This week the country has been rocked by how much more than originally estimated it is actually going to cost the taxpayer to bail out Anglo Irish Bank. The National Asset Management Agency has started taking over toxic loans for half their original value. Quinn Insurance is under financial investigation and the company have warned that 5,500 Irish jobs are being threatened by the appointment of administrators, and the numbers on the live register crept up again in March after a slight fall in February. On a brighter note, public sector management and unions have reached an agreement in relation to public sector pay cuts with no further cuts promised until after 2014 provided certain cost-saving measures are met. Actually, it’s not so bright after all because teaching unions, and more than likely a few others, look set to reject the deal. Imagine the mess the country would be in if private sector workers had the same mechanisms to reject pay cuts which were thrust upon them. They took it on the chin and realised they were lucky to have a job when friends and colleagues were being made redundant.
And that’s just a week in Irish headlines.
We could depress the heads off ourselves talking about it all, pointing the finger of blame, and worrying about how the effects of highly irresponsible behaviour by those who were entrusted with great responsibility will have on future generations. We could do that, we are doing that, but what is it achieving? At the end of the day, the country’s finances are in turmoil, the taxpayer is picking up the tab, and ever so slowly heads are beginning to roll. They can find billions to bail out the banks, but they are insisting on cutting special needs assistants to save a few measly euros.
While many would like to see men behind bars, and others would like to see those responsible being taken out and shot like they do in North Korea, by focusing constantly on the negative, which is out of our control, we are affecting our own health and wellbeing.
We can’t ignore what’s gone on. For God’s sake, Pat Kenny and his varying Frontline guests remind us of the country’s woeful problems every week, but we’re not in a position to change the past. What we can do is try to shape our own futures and not let the mistakes and wrongdoings of others impinge on our personal happiness.
On a more serious note, something which has a more direct effect on the individual citizen of this country is the paring back of health services. Of course we would all love to be treated in centres of excellence but the Government have been found to be premature in removing vital cancer services from Mayo General and Sligo General before University Hospital Galway has been given the resources to operate as a centre of excellence. It’s the same story across the country. Acute services are being axed from local hospitals. Bigger centres are not able to cope with the rise in patients. A moratorium on recruitment is forcing bed closures.
People are dying through not being able to access necessary services, misdiagnosis, and overcrowding in the systems.
Then look at the education system and the Government’s insistence that SNAs continue to be cut. It’s the most vulnerable in society who are being targeted. Those without a voice.
It’s all gone wrong. Unfortunately there is little we can do to change the above. We have put people in positions of power who are charged with decision making. We need them to make the right decisions now. The onus is on them. All that’s left for the ordinary citizen is to enjoy the Easter break and focus on the positives and those things which are in our control.
Toni Bourke Editor [email protected]
