Boyle sends out wrong signals
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NOT many of us take Senator Dan Boyle very seriously. Indeed, not many of us take his party, the Greens, seriously except on the numerous occasions when they contrive to annoy sensible people and make them regret that the party ever found a place of influence in the political system.
But regrettably or otherwise, they do have a place in the system. They hold two seats in the Cabinet. The Government depends on them for its existence. And Mr Boyle is the party chairman and finance spokesman.
So when he makes a pronouncement on an issue of the highest importance, people sit up and take notice -- at home and, more dangerously, abroad.
Mr Boyle wonders whether we have the political will to adhere to the Government's programme of Budget cuts, aimed at reducing the Budget deficit to 3pc of national income by 2014. A fair question. Cuts have already caused enormous pain across our whole society, and the pain will worsen. How much, and at what pace, can we bear?
But instead of agreeing with the need for the policies that his own party supports in coalition he muses about how to ease the process. Could we not, he suggests slow it down, by a year or two? Or even delay its completion until 2010?
The answer is No. This year we will have to borrow close to €20bn in order merely to stay afloat. The interest will be added to the national debt. So will the interest in every subsequent year until such time as we get our affairs in order.
Moreover, international investors are far from convinced of our Government's determination to prevail. If they continue to doubt us, we risk even higher, unaffordable interest rates.
Those of them who have heard of Mr Boyle as a person of consequence in Irish politics will have their doubts reinforced.
But in one respect he is right. He is right to question whether "we" have the political will to stick the course. By "we" he presumably means the coalition, not the voters, who have no recourse but to throw it out of office at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, it has a choice. It can give the people the leadership to help them through the hard times. Or it can continue to choose cowardice and incompetence on every issue from water charges to top officials' pensions.
Irish Independent
