Slump Coalition’s greatest myths; Part 1; “We all benefited from the boom”

The above sound byte is frequently used in the media by neo-liberal economists, bankers, builders, property developers, FF and their Green and independent patsies. This statement is never challenged.
A small number of property developers amassed enormous land banks for the purposes of development. To aid them the FF & PD government incentivised building. The construction sector needed domestic customers for housing so mortgage lending criteria were relaxed, second homes and buy to let schemes
incentivised. Profiteering saw the average price of a house climb under Ahern & Harney between 1994 and 2007 from €73k to over 320K! During the same time inflation in the building sector suggested the average house price should be just €132k. The difference between the 2 is accounted for by profiteering. To keep up with rising prices, the value of mortgages rocketed and while wages grew they couldn’t keep pace with profiteering in the building industry do it became more difficult for ordinary people to get their foot on the property ladder.

A hysteria resulted where even reality TV programmes got in on the act to find properties for first time buyers, in one case a government TD acted as a judge and newspaper property supplements bulged with seductive ads for new developments.

So let’s not confuse higher pay with any putative direct benefits from the boom, unless you think that it’s somehow a privilege to own your own home! Many of the houses built in the boom were distant from where people worked and involved a long commute usually by car, expensive child-care and when the child goes to school above average pupil teacher ratio.
When Bertie Ahern proposed to increase his salary by €38K per annum he ignored the reality that for 1.5M in the state €38K was their total household income! Many in the workforce have little or no pension provision for their retirement. At the same time total tax reliefs in the state were valued at 25% of the total tax take! The top 1% when you leave out residential property own 34% of Irelands wealth. During the Ahern period when a wealthy person could find tax shelters to invest in (private hospitals, hotels, 3rd level facilities, nursing homes, holiday camps, student apartments, park and ride facilities, car parks, and refurbished flats), childhood poverty rates were at 7.5%, just 21k social houses built, pupil teacher ratios were among the highest in Europe, hospital waiting lists grew, marginalisation grew as Michael McDowell said he believed in inequality as a motivator in society.
At the same time state assets such as Telecom Eireann, Aer Lingus were flogged off to the market, cash reserves depleted to an extent that investment in broadband significantly lags most EU countries. In the case of the electricity market, prices were driven upwards so as to make the industry more profitable for new entrants. This policy is being encouraged by the greens to an extent that price of power is now a key expense in SME’s.

Consumption replaced production in our economy. Ireland has now nothing to sell on an international market other than low tax to attract company accounts to the IFSC. Unemployment is now set to hit a record 500K this year, 4 businesses are going bust a day, tax take has slumped, social welfare and spending cuts are a reality. The party is over. Like any party the guests are gone leaving the clear up to the hosts.

Electorate deserve better PD exit than Grealish's farce

Recently when I’ve listened to discussion about the PD’s viability I’ve remembered how when I was a child my father brought me to see Vanessa Redgrave in “Mary Queen of Scots”. As the inevitable execution scene appraoched at the end I closed my ears and covered my ears as Mary climbed the scaffold. After what seemed an era had passed I nudged my father and asked at the top of my voice “Is Mary's head off yet?”. The audience broke out laughing. Lets be blunt about the PD’s. The party’s over since May 2007. No party could recover what happened to them. The absence of a grass roots structure accelerates the inevitable. Society has moved on. The will he won’t he farce of the last few weeks only prolongs the agony.

To be fair they’ve had achievements; Harney banned smokey fuel, Liz O’Donnell raised ODA, Bobby Molloy deregulated taxis. McDowell defended Mary Robinson when she was the victim of a crass attack by Padraig Flynn. Their support for divorce, O’Malley’s stand by the republic speech was important. But in recent years the decision to accept Justice & Health in the 2004 reshuffle seemed to have promoted the terminal decline. Co-location defined them and a Fianna Fail that is happy for the PD’s to take the flack for the HSE. They also provided the cover for FF to drive privatisation, tax cuts and to prioritise economic activity at the expense of societal activity.
What intrigues me is that recently they are in negotiations with Fianna Fail and reports are that they will merge with FF. In the unlikely event of these breaking down where will they go? Whatever about the PD’s what does this say about Brian Cowen? This is the politician who told the FF faithful “When in doubt leave them out”. Now it seems that soon we’ll see a permanent temporary little arrangement. Where does this leave Fianna Fail?

What does Fianna Fail actually get? Happy to facilitate the demise of a party that doesn’t threaten it, allowing Mary Harney the plum job of commissioner, perhaps gaining about 20 council seats and the post of Health Minister, the very department that Brian Cowen once described as Angola because there were so many landmines. I must admit to being bamboozled as to why the 2 parties are in negotiations. What is there to talk about from a Fianna Fail point of view? In 2004 FF did so poorly they surely cannot go lower in 2009. So why do they need to merge potentially upsetting FF candidates with new running mates when they could hope to see them off in the election. As any Labour member will tell you a merger doesn’t mean that the voter will follow the party they supported before the merger.

I suspect that while the parliamentary party may want to merge that ordinary members will be reluctant to go into FF. I understand how they might feel. I think the charade engaged in by Noel Grealish makes ordinary members less enthused about merging. For any member of a party that’s in its death throes the final obsequies should be their own business, however would ordinary ex-PD members be welcome in Labour? If they were happy to support our policies, I could live with that and wouldn't loose my head. Unlike poor old Mary Queen of Scots!