The curse of 'pleadership'
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Thursday November 26 2009
SURVEYING the industrial wreckage of post-boom Ireland there can be no room for entrenchment: Ruinous "them and us" attitudes must be banished.
Our survival, considering the depth and scale of our problems, demands that collectively we must wake up to the fact that now there is only "us". Almost 18 months have passed since our economy went over the cliff, and instead of banding together and framing an emergency response, we have amplified differences and deepened divisions.
In the leadership vacuum, we have cultivated a culture of "pleadership", where everyone points the finger at the next person. Let someone else make the sacrifice, someone else put their shoulder to the wheel. There may well be a time for retribution, but not in the teeth of a perfect economic storm.
The latest example of a reluctance to engage with the cold, hard facts of life in today's Ireland comes from staff at the Central Bank and Financial Regulator, who have voted to strike on Friday, three days after public sector workers staged their stoppage in protest against government plans to cut pay.
With the banks on their knees and lack of financial regulation singled out as one of the critical factors in precipitating the current crisis, one can hardly imagine a more inappropriate response. Blame games and strikes merely deepen economic fault lines.
Last night, Taoiseach Brian Cowen rightly told union leaders planning another rather oddly titled "day of action" next Thursday, that he could not allow a gun to be put to his head.
The truth, and it is a bitter one, is that this Budget by necessity, will be the most severe we have ever known.
Collectively we are struggling to carry a €25bn debt burden. That brings a new set of imperatives which are beyond negotiation.
At this remove, with the dole queues reaching unprecedented proportions and companies going to the wall daily, we have to ask ourselves, at what point are we going to accept that we all must be part of the solution?
It would certainly help if Mr Cowen and his Cabinet did a better job of presenting their case in explaining that there simply are no palatable options. Even so, by now we must accept the gravity of what has to be done. We either deal with our problems while we still have a chance, or our problems will most surely deal with us.
Irish Independent
