HEART BEAT:We need to concentrate on survival, not on party politics, writes MAURICE NELIGAN
THERE ARE problems beyond the national ones. Not too long ago the Highest Authority mentioned carpets and curtains in an offhand manner.
Knowing that nests tend to get refurbished in springtime I paid little attention. References to the subject became more frequent and my antennae remained sluggish. This was a tactical error on my part.
Apparently on the first or second mention, I was supposed to suggest to the HA that perhaps she would consider if, in her opinion, we needed new carpets and curtains. I missed the opportunity.
Now it transpires that the HA would be reluctant to ask anybody into our humble dwelling on account of the state of these accoutrements. That was plain speaking and it was followed by the observation that now in recession was the perfect time to buy.
Head down, I doggedly ignored pieces of material in strategic places and, more ominously, calculations of square footage and window measurements. The accompanying pricing bore little evidence of recession, but maybe it hasn’t reached the carpet and curtain men yet. I suppose I’ll have to dig up some money from the garden, if I can remember where it is buried.
Meanwhile, if you pass a house with sacks in the windows; that’s us.
Moving beyond the bare boards of our house; these are unusual times. I am not alone in harbouring a feeling of unease. Talking to friends and acquaintances reinforces this. It is almost as if we as a nation wait for the next defining episode.
We do not wait happily or expectantly. It is a grim wait. In the words of Edmund Burke, “there is however a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue”. We are fast approaching that point.
Oddly enough there are some who find the notion of crisis unacceptable and aver that if the media did not concentrate so much on the bad news, the gremlins would simply go away.
That won’t happen and ordinary people know there is a lot more grief to come. I suppose our present situation is akin to delayed shock. The acceptance of the scale of our problems will bring cold fury directed against those whose profligate and idle stewardship allowed our house to fall down.
The only recent bright moment that I can think of recently is Leinster stuffing Munster, but that wouldn’t make everybody happy I suppose.
When people sit down and think beyond their own situation and consider children and grandchildren and their futures, attitudes will harden.
Those now in third level and those heading there may find little waiting when they come to join an ever-waning workforce. Will they accept this with equanimity? I think not.
Goldsmith put it in an earlier Deserted Village, “thus fares the land by luxury betrayed”. Yes, we were betrayed, many unfortunately willingly, as they chose to believe that you could get something for nothing and who rushed to buy the hair restorer and the snake oil.
We now need honest men and women who won’t promise miracles, but will promise to do their best. We need new blood and we need expertise. Sadly this has been lacking in government for a long time. If we hope ever again to prosper as a nation, we must rectify this right now.
Does the anger and unease of our people register with our politicians? They seem to inhabit a different world. The posters have gone up for the local and European elections. So it’s business as usual then? Do they really think so; maybe they’ll find out on the doorsteps. But this seems unlikely and it appears that we are going to have to tell them that the old ways will have to go.
It’s not any more a question of dispatching the party machine to rally the troops and relying on a tribal vote. People actually want to know what you can offer even if it’s a Churchillian “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. They should be about the only promises we can trust.
The old habits die hard. There is still a tendency toward heredity in the promotion of politics. The selections of the government party for the upcoming byelections confirm this.
I ask myself if they really think this to be a good idea at the present time. I do not know either man and I am sure they are honourable and good, but at the present time we need new faces and new ideas.
It scarcely encourages new talent to emerge in any party if preference is given to dynastic cabals. This is not to say that such people be disbarred but rather that they, above all, should display characteristics that will add to public life.
We’ve had too much of this at all levels and “jobs for the boys” and “keep it in the family” are outmoded concepts. They are also concepts that are widely resented. I am not making a discriminatory statement here; this practice has been widespread in our political system. It is time to look very hard at the credentials of those offering for election. Bloodlines are unimportant. Lloyd George wrote concerning the House of Lords: “There are no credentials. They do not even need a medical certificate. They need not be sound either in body or mind. They only require a certificate of birth – just to prove they were the first of the litter. You would not choose a spaniel on those principles.” This is not about party. It is about survival.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon