DAMIEN ENGLISH, TD,
Sir, - On May 17th, the people returned a Fianna Fáil-PD coalition by the peaceful exercise of the ballot and of democratic choice, showing, yet again, the strength of this, the fourth oldest democracy in Europe.
But now we know that it was by peddling a set of lies that the coalition got re-elected. The public finances were allegedly in sound condition, free from the threat of deficit and borrowing. There were record numbers of new jobs. If you read the packaging, we had achieved the pinnacle of our prosperity and now the challenge was to preserve it under a utopia ruled by Bertie Ahern and "his team". No tax hikes, no cuts, no problems at all - those were the commitments.
What a difference a few months can make in the absence of daily media spin briefings, expensive portrait photography and catchy slogans!
I am a proud Irishman, and do not want to fall into the trap of other Opposition politicians who are accused of always seeing the negatives and campaigning just on them. There is much that is good about the Ireland of today, such as our large, young well-educated population achieving new-found confidence and great goals, both at home and abroad. We are justifiably proud of them, but what legacy are we leaving them?
I am a 24-year-old and my peers and I are not fools. We don't want to see the horrors of the 1980s let loose upon this island again, but there is a danger that we are going into that dark valley. We seem lost in bad decisions, wasteful short-term expenditure and no respect for value for money.
Now it seems that the weakest in our society must pay the price for this; our young, our sick and our old, in cutbacks and price increases, with no regard for long-term social, economic or environmental sustainability. Barriers are springing up preventing more and more Irish people from realising their maximum potential.
On the employment front, an average of 280 people a day have joined the dole queues since the election. The jobs gains of the past five years and the previous Rainbow Coalition are vanishing like morning dew. Unreal renewal notices for public liability and other forms of insurance are being issued to small and medium-sized businesses forcing early retirements and closures and deterring entrepreneurs. Job losses will follow, and the public finances will suffer from lower tax takes and higher social welfare costs.
The well-documented motor insurance rip-off, particularly for younger drivers, continues to penalise our isolated rural populations and further damages the quality of life of commuters effectively just sleeping in the counties surrounding our capital city. Our tourism sector is in retreat.
Trust is very important in life, perhaps the most important. It is the foundation for any good personal or working relationship. If I held job interviews tomorrow, I would give the job to the most impressive candidate.
But if, two months later, I discovered that they had lied about their work experience and qualifications, and these lies had continued into their employment with me, I would have no hesitation in firing them. I'd be mad not to.
Too many of our people are yearning for a re-ballot when they see the actions of this Government. We must have a change so that people can trust their public representatives and see them deliver.
Broken promises and outright lies by politicians have contributed so much to the cynicism and contempt for politics held by many in this country, and we must banish this to the past. Our people, and the generations that came before us and built this State, deserve so much better. - Yours, etc.,
DAMIEN ENGLISH, TD,
Navan,
Co Meath.