opinions

Strength of Irish resolve

IRELAND begins 2010 a less prosperous place than perhaps it was a year ago but wiser for all that. By Irish World Editorial Comment - 29/12/09

The hard economic facts of life have hit home and for tens of thousands of Irish people this year will be financially and materially their most difficult ever.

 

 

People who have lost their jobs in Ireland in the past 12 months are suffering most of all. And there are few people who have been untouched by the extraordinary reversal in the nation’s fortunes as the Celtic Tiger sailed into the sunset.

 

 

Unemployment has increased alarmingly and there are now more than 400,000 people on the Live Register. This is an increase of some 200,000 in the figure over 12 months.

 

 

Wages have fallen in the public and private sectors. A very great amount of wealth, based in both the property market and the stock market, has been wiped out. Private pensions have been decimated.

 

 

However, Ireland is showing signs that it can come through these huge changes in fortune. The growth in unemployment has slowed. The economy will probably contract in 2010 again, but should have started to grow by year’s end.

Many businesses have withstood enormous shocks and remain standing. They have made themselves more competitive by cutting costs and increasing productivity.

 

 

The Irish government has taken necessary actions to stabilise the nation’s public finances. And we should not underestimate how difficult this has been for Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and his team. They have taken some hugely unpopular steps but will reap the benefit in the longer term.

 

 

We acknowledge that Mr Lenihan and Taoiseach Brian Cowen - and the ministers and TDs of the coalition government - have done the right thing in cutting public spending.

 

 

The painful reductions in the public sector pay bill and in welfare spending have been vital in distinguishing Ireland from, for example, Greece as being serious and credible about reducing the national deficit.

 

 

More needs to be done in 2010. The weakness of Ireland’s banking sector still has the ability to cause problems. It will take time to restore the banking system to anything close to normality.

 

 

The work of reducing the cost of running the machinery of Irish the state and reforming has still a long way to go, as has how the nation pays for it also has a long way to go. It will take a feat of co-operation between the government and the Irish trade unions to reach mutual objectives on what needs to be done for the good of the country and its people.

 

 

The task in hand is a huge one. But make no mistake, the government of Ireland and its people know what needs to be done. Last year, 2009 will go down as one of the most difficult in Ireland’s history, certainly since the 1930s.

But, as that difficult year ends, Ireland’s people can be proud of the way that they have stood up to the challenges that 2009 presented and of the way that they began facing up the realities of what had to be done to save the situation from getting worse.

 

 

The work begun last year will put Ireland and its people on a firmer and surer step as we go into 2010.

 

 Let’s hope we all will enjoy a happy, hopeful and return to prosperous New Year!

 

 

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