A new year begins and with it comes a series of mixed messages that serve to confuse rather than fortify resolve. Appeals by charities abroad for funding against famine and war reveal that while austerity may now be hitting home, these current dark times fail to compare against emergency situations where basic human needs such as food and shelter are not being met.
Meanwhile, our continuing focus on money as a main priority in life is set to cost us further. Should we carry through on threats not to pay up for new taxes such as the Annual Household Charge, local authorities warn in return of insufficient cashflow, ergo, insufficient funding for the provision of public services. The knives are also out as various bodies make further demands on our depleted resources, with matters such as rising health premiums, travel costs, fuel hikes, and additional motoring offence penalties making people fearful of even stepping outside their front door.
As for the continuing dismal jobs market and exponential emigration rates, now that 2012 has begun we are also confronted by the raft of retirements from the public service. Day after day we learn of the loss of top quality staff, working in education, health, and public administration, whose services will no longer be available thanks to the February cut-off date regarding pension entitlements.
The fact that many are relatively young men and women in their fifties – at a time when Government is nudging official retirement age to 70 - is especially galling. The net result to the country will not only be loss of expertise from these long-serving individuals, but additionally, they will no longer be earning an income-taxed wage that provides towards the pensions of the next generation. Instead they will be taking millions of euros out of depleted government coffers to fund retirements that could go on in many instances for 30 to 40 years. What a botch job.
The real issue here of course is that money, a commodity that can rise and fall in value, has simply assumed too much importance. With our financial system in decline, not only is there no possibility of us servicing our debts, there is also no possibility for growth. The only way to secure growth is through harnessing and developing our natural resources. We must go back to the old pre -EU ways, when Irish land was not only regarded as valuable in its own right, but was also hugely productive.
It is therefore time to heed the advice of environmental experts, who for a number of years now have been suggesting innovative ways of maximising the potential of our land, that will not only serve to combat climate change, bring savings on fuel bills and avoid massive EU carbon taxes, but will also generate huge job creation in the process. Rather than leave land fallow in return for EU grants, land-owners must be encouraged to spearhead a move away from dependence on finite fossil fuels, through the growth of green energy produce and proven carbon neutral fuel sources, including willow, wood chip, and hay. After that, attention can turn to harnessing our full water and wind energy potential.
Rather than wasting energies trying to figure out unworkable equations to meet the annual €15 billion public service and €20 billion social welfare bills, this new Government needs to recognise it is actually presented with massive opportunity. Restore productivity and value to top quality Irish land through the development of green energy fuels - and in return get the country back working.
Joan Geraghty
Acting Editor [email protected]
