James Downey: 2011 had great moments -- but the rest was grim
NOT many of us will look back with pleasure on the year 2011, but it had its great moments: the smashing of Fianna Fail in the general election, the royal and presidential visits, the election of Michael D Higgins as President. Memories to savour.
Most of the rest was grim. Grim from the beginning, and worse as the year wore on.
At the beginning, as we looked forward to the collapse of the Cowen administration, I said that the general election might not bring us a good government, but it would bring us some kind of government. The Fianna Fail-Green coalition had given up any pretence of governing the country. A Fine Gael-Labour coalition might not be much better, but it could not be any worse.
That judgment still stands, though barely.
Enda Kenny's government has been a serious disappointment. For that, admittedly, it should bear only part of the blame.
The major share must go to two decisions made by the outgoing government -- one in a moment of madness, the other imposed by outside forces: the bank guarantee of September 2007 and the EU-IMF bailout of November 2010. The first saddled the State with the debts of insolvent banks. The second cost us our economic sovereignty and would go on to dictate, in detail, the policies of the incoming government.
But other grave mistakes were, or should have been, apparent from the beginning. These have to do with the fundamental weaknesses of the political system.
During the general election campaign, the voters had some difficulty making up their minds whether they wanted a Fine Gael-Labour coalition or a Fine Gael single-party government. They settled for a coalition.
I don't go along with those who attribute the two parties' successes to their foolish election promises. If they had taken the right course and made no promises at all, the result would have been much the same. But they were greatly at fault in one vital respect.
For all the economic briefings they had received in advance, they had not taken on board the full horror of the situation. They entered office in the self-deluding belief that they could implement at least some of their promises, like the hapless "jobs initiative". Our real rulers, the EU and IMF teams settled in Merrion Street, very soon set them right.
Very soon, too, we could see another unhappy development: the lack of a proper opposition in the Dail.
The election gave us a government with a huge majority, and a divided and ineffective opposition. Fianna Fail was, and has remained, in a condition of stasis. Sinn Fein will have no credibility until it finds itself a new leadership. And the amusement we felt at the sight of Mick Wallace's and Ming Flanagan's sartorial preferences wore off quickly.
The year ended with "socialists" opposing a tax on real property. This is beyond satire. Of course we must have a property tax (though not a trifling but still unfair "household charge"). It should be based on site value or market value, if anyone can determine the market value of a house in Ireland these days.
It should amount typically to €4,000 or €5,000 a year as in better-run countries. Most of Richard Boyd Barrett's constituents can afford that. Those who cannot afford it should have an exemption, as happened with the old-time domestic rates.
By refusing to countenance a property tax, the supposed representatives of the left have shown how little they have to contribute to reasonable policy. But what of the one large centre-left party?
While the months of 2011 ticked by, I was one of those who toyed with the question whether Labour should have gone into opposition and let Fine Gael form a single-party government. For this scenario, Fine Gael would have had to enter into some sort of arrangement with Fianna Fail. It could hardly have been a happy relationship. But happiness does not come with the territory.
HAPPINESS certainly has not come with Labour's experience in office so far. In the very long term, the party will be judged by its performance on the issue of public service reform. I wish Brendan Howlin the best of luck in 2012.
In the meantime, Labour's most spectacular decision has been the closure of our Vatican embassy. To my way of thinking, this is simply daft. It reduces our access to one of the best information centres in the world. It makes it harder to repair our relations with the Papacy -- which must be set on a totally different footing from anything in the past. This calls for serious diplomacy, not pointless gestures.
There are other relationships which need repairing, and Labour in opposition could have devoted itself to making some worthwhile proposals which we assuredly will not hear from Sinn Fein or the United Left Alliance.
Europe, and the world, are going through a "crisis of capitalism" fully equal to anything that has gone before. Almost nobody believes there is any alternative to capitalism. So we have to make it work. By installing "technocratic" governments in place of democracy? By piling debt upon debt? By insisting on rules that say no bank must ever fail; in other words, must not bear the consequences of unwise actions? I don't think so.
In 2012 and no later, the Frankfurt Group or the Franco-German axis -- is there any difference between them? -- need to come up with answers. My wish for the coming year is that they will be the right answers.
And I have a specific wish for Ireland: that the Coalition will pull itself together. That it will contribute something to the solution, not content itself with a pat on the head and the occasional transfer of a few billion. That it will find means of convincing us, but first of all convincing itself, that if we are weak, we are not helpless.
To say "don't despair" is not enough. Not good enough for individuals and families whose spirits are low and whose prospects seem bleak -- at a time that should be a time of optimism.
They need reasons to hope. Here are three. The social fabric has not broken down. We celebrated Christmas, especially our traditional family Christmas, with as much enthusiasm as ever. And we survived, if no more than survived, one of the worst years in memory. I wish Mr Kenny, Eamon Gilmore, and all of us a happier 2012.
- James Downey
Irish Independent
