We can still create something good

It was a historic visit. After more than one hundred years the Queen of the United Kingdom has come and visited Ireland.

The calm and charming 85 year old held out the hand of friendship and warmth to the Irish.  She solemnly paid her respects to our dead rebels and our dead war veterans.  She went out of her way to show us that she respected our ways with her attire and her words of Irish.  Some have said that she is a seasoned campaigner but even the more hard hearted would acknowledge that she was enjoying the visit.

On our side we did not bow to the Queen.  Enda Kenny knowingly at the arrival would not even move towards her but instead just offered his outstretched hand. 

A nervousness was underscored by a number of bomb threats and hoaxes on the first day.

And the agenda too was tilted towards the Irish.  Many smiled at the image of the 85 year old shovelling earth onto a tree at the Aras. It was only on the third day with the Queen’s visit to the National horse stud and the visit to Cork that she was doing a few things she enjoyed.

She took it in her stride.

As the week wore on the Irish warmed to her.  We found out that as a nation we were being respected.  In these times of hardship we could still do something that created a feeling of goodness.  Of course this cost E28million, as Richard Boy Barret reminded us. 

But we were still good at something.  Welcoming people and creating a sense of warmth and friendship.  Healing the past.

Although the weather was fine the mood of the country was somewhere between downcast and despondent.  We have been hit be an economic problem that is breathtaking and extremely serious.

Spiritually the country is also on its knees.  Having embraced the Celtic Tiger and believed our own hype our collective soul has been damaged.  In many ways this is why The Queen’s visit released a collective pang of positivity.  We as a nation can still create some goodness.

The Queen's visit - A Maturing Nation?

The news coverage was overwhelming positive,  at times quietly euphoric.  

On the RTE One weekend show (22th May 2011) Marian Finucane asked Geraldine Kennedy about her response to an article in a British newspaper that the Irish media in their gushing coverage of the Queen’s visit was again displaying the herd mentality that got us into the economic mess. The stupid Irish, an age old English jibe, mixed with the economic barb; sore points. We had though we had overcome these, partially by becoming an independent self-determining nation and also by achieving economical independence during the Celtic Tiger.

Ms Kennedy rebutted that this was nonsense and that there were only 200 or so protesters who were a tiny minority.

But this accusation in a sense is asking us Irish “What are ye about?”, poking a finger in our chest.   Are we a mature nation able to stand on our own feet? 

Part of the process of being a mature democratic nation is to be able to hold a proper discussion on such a historic visit. Instead did we fall over ourselves with emotion, albeit warm emotion?

We pride ourselves in our words and our ability to talk, discuss and debate. But this inability to listen to critique is a national Achilles heel.  Unfortunately it is also rampant in the national media. It has blinded us in the past and will hinder our ability to mature as a democratic nation.

The visit was underscored by a few repeated phrases, “We cannot change the past, we can only change the future”, “let the past be the past”.  These have meaning of course but this visit was orchestrated by the political figures in our name and so it should be open to debate.  Our political leaders have landed us in many a sorrowful mess in the past.

This visit was part of the peace process and a welcome addition to that collection of healing initiatives.

But change takes effort.

It was brought to my attention that the Ken Loach film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, on the Irish War of Independence with Britain was only shown in four cinemas in Britain on its release in 2006.  Respecting each other’s past is not easy.  The Saville Report took years to set up and was extremely difficult to publish.

A visit of such a historically sensitive figure is bound to lead us as a nation to question ourselves about what we are about. Perhaps this will happen in the months to come.

Constitutionally Ireland is a republic.  The Queen’s worldview is based on  birthright, to where you are born into there you will be.  In a republic people are equal; hard work and endeavour are rewarded, people strive to improve themselves. 

Morrisey, of The Smiths fame, roundly criticised the Queen.  He said that as an Irish descendant who has struggled for years to change attitudes through music and better himself in England, he has found the fawning to the Queen despicable.  She stands for station and status quo he stands for hard work and change.  People’s adoration of the Queen and her station makes people work for change less valuable.

Of course we all live together in this world.  But to be able to be a mature nation and as far as possible self determine our own destiny we must grapple with some of our own particular hard questions.  We pride ourselves in our verbal dexterity, perhaps it is time to improve on this and pride ourselves in our honest and robust debate.

Signing on Irish Style

Here is a nice piece of writing from the Irish Times, tis a weekly column so far in the Life and Living section of the paper.

See if you like it.


The Irish Times - Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Then one day he realises his daughter is deaf

SIGNING ON: It’s one thing to learn to live more frugally – no more second car, no more Sky+ – but quite another to need medical care without insurance.

REAPPLYING for interest only; renegotiating the credit-card rate (and realising, as the nation must, that such tinkering around the margins makes no discernible difference); restructuring the credit-union loan; replacing two cars with one; reducing the eldest’s hours to just those provided under the preschool scheme; disposing of the landline, Sky+ and several small dreams.

Switching off everything, including the radio, now that the country has, post-election, acquiesced, formally, to the EU-IMF “deal”. Reading the paper online. Exercising off-peak. Turning up, closing time, Thursdays, at Tesco, for last-minute reductions. Buying two for one. Not buying flowers.

Taking a kitchen stool outside, stepping into the bin with boots on. Jumping. But not for joy.
Waste not, want not. Shop around. Read the expiry date. Cancel. Claw back . . .
Except it’s not enough. So he and his wife set about a further series of cuts. And that is how they make the mistake.

***

The four-year-old is up in the forest, down on the beach, every other day. Her skin glows. They cancel their private health insurance for Dad (off smokes, off alcohol, daily in the gym and therefore technically healthy) and her, maintaining it for Mum and baby only. Then, one day, he asks his daughter to listen to the wind, whispering. Realises she is deaf to anything other than conversation. (He suspected something was awry – “fey” instead of “face”, “how” instead of “house”. No problems detected in early developmental tests. But he’d still been concerned enough to ask at creche. “Nothin’ to worry about,” they’d said. Bit of a dreamer is all. Could be just a Dublin accent developing.
Worry diminishes the ability to detect vital detail. Too busy with bills, bank statements.

***

The GP writes a referral to Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. A letter arrives some weeks later, telling them there may – in other words, there most definitely will – be a waiting period of 18-24 months. By which time their daughter will have started primary. And her slow descent.
***
They know enough not to rely on the HSE. They’ll go private, somehow. He puts his motorbike up for sale on Donedeal and in the meantime heads into the mountains every chance he gets.

***

In the audiology clinic in Cabra his daughter attempts, unsuccessfully, to play with a boy who has one of those high voices deaf kids often possess. His parents are pale. No attempt at conversation. The nun in charge is old, exhausted. Trying to retire for years. Beneath her almost taciturn reserve he perceives a caring, committed woman. She compliments him on his daughter’s manners. A surge of pride. (What was it Jackie Onassis said? “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.”)
The nun informs him that, although she is not formally qualified, her diagnosis is that the child is significantly, if not profoundly, deaf.

***

The consultant is courteous, even charming. Their daughter has 50 per cent hearing loss in one ear, 55 per cent in the other. She’ll require surgery to insert grommets in the inner ear. He recommends she avoid swimming (no problem, as the family’s gym membership is long since cancelled) and flying (chance would be a fine thing), at least for six months afterwards. They discuss details of their insurance, then the fact that they are out of work, that the policy, though reinstated recently, was cancelled. He promises to do what he can. They hand €150 to the receptionist, trying to smile.
In the car the child sleeps while the grown-ups remain church-quiet, anxious.

***

He can’t be dealing with them, their robotic f****** responses. His wife is less likely to scream down the phone. The insurers argue that their daughter’s is a pre-existing condition, that as they cancelled her policy before they visited their GP – the point of origin, as they perceive it, for her condition – she is not covered. Sorry. He rings the consultant. The calm in the man’s voice. (I used to be like that, at work, and beyond, thinks the unemployed man. I remember it. Vaguely.)

***

The consultant goes to bat on their behalf. He is not put on hold, nor made to suffer Muzak. He questions, quietly, the right of the insurance adjuster to his expert opinion: has he studied paediatric medicine? The child’s condition was not a pre-existing one. She had, at the time the policy was cancelled, the time at which she was examined by her GP – who, for the record, is also not an expert – a simple build-up of wax. The insurer baulks at this. The consultant reminds the insurer that he has both private and public lists, that it is well within his remit to advise those on the public lists to consider going private because of the excessive waiting periods. The insurer backs off. This is how the system works. Find someone with influence to fight your corner. Or sink to the bottom. With the rest of the dregs.

***

The operation is a success. They’re back in the forest.
– “What’s the wind whispering, Dad?”
– “Em, it says, ‘Not to worry, everything’ll be okay.’ ”
– “No, Dad, it says, ‘You’re a silly-head. An’ you can’t catch me. . .’ ’’
***
Her laughter lifts him up and out of himself, reminding him, forcibly, who he is supposed to be. (Leastways in front of his kids.)
***
He writes a thank-you note to the nun. Buys a decent bottle of claret, puts a fiver in the car, drives to the consultant’s. Just because he has been forgotten it doesn’t mean he should let slide his manners, his upbringing.

The man he used to be.

The Book of Kells

The Kerry Eagle wishes the election candidates well in the election and count over the weekend.

Taking a break from political commentary for the moment, above is a page from the Book of Kells.  Here is an extract from Geoffery Moorehouse's book, Sun Dancing.

"A famous example from the Book of Kells is the page which contains fantasised symbols representing the Four Evangelists; a man for Matthew, a lion for Mark, a calf for Luke, an eagle for John.  And in these highly stylised examples of Celtic art..which represent writhing mammals, birds and reptiles, as well as anthropomorphic depictions of the human form some specialists have seen a connection with the art of cultures that extend far beyond the Celtic origins in Mitteleuropa, but can perhaps be traced to the Assyrians, the Persians, the Chinese, the Turkmen of the Central Asian plateau.

Wherever this imagination began, its development in the scriptoria of the Irish and other Celtic monasteries was nothing less than the evidence of genius.  No work of art repays careful study more than the page of a Celtic manuscript, which is so copious and intricately related in its detail that you have to look at it long before your eyes become, as it were, accustomed to its light.  Only then do you begin to notice the half-concealed creatures writhing around the margins, of the fact that St Matthew appears to have been given two right feet, or the colour of human eyes, which much more often than not are grey or brown, while the hair of saints and angels is invariably in the range of yellow or red...

It is a matter of astonishment that some of these art works are with us still.At the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century, the Book of Durrow passed into the hands of a MacGeoghan, who lived nearby in County Offaly, and got into the habit of doctoring his sick cattle by plunging the relic into water, which he then allowed the animals to drink,a treatment which eventually resulted in many pages being holed by damp rot.  The Book of Kells..('the most sumptuous of the books to have survived from Europe's early Middle Ages', in one expert opinion), had an even more perilous passage to the twentieth century..stolen from the church in 1007, turning up in a ditch several weeks later, minus the shrine of precious metal and jewels in which it was kept...

It is obvious that, through warfare, pillage and other tragedies, we have lost many more of these illuminated manuscripts than we shall ever know.  But that any of them have survived to our own time is nothing less than a miracle in western civilisation."

Clarity as Gaelige

Watching the leaders' debate as Gaeilge on TG4 this evening a few things struck me. It is often much easier to see trends and habits when people are speaking in a language that does not come as naturally as their mother tongue.

Michaél Martin is very comfortable with the language in fact he is excellent at speaking full stop. But he is very like the best boy in the class; able to rattle off statistics and polished language very easily. But he comes across as too hard; perhaps it is too many years at the cabinet table and a little too many good lunches. Others say he was always like this.

Enda on the other hand stuck to the script – the 5 point plan I think he calls it. He rattles this off, a bit psalmish. But Enda gives off an air of the clean honest and straightforward man. This image is resonating with the public who are perhaps tired of trickery and double talk and yearn for a more principled and honest approach. But it remains to be seen if Enda is strong enough to make sure his policies are clean and honest. FG's history is as much mired in cronyism and parish pump politics as FF; it just is that they have not been in power for as long as FF.

Enda is also curiously looking like a winner; like a guy with a lot of people behind him.  The public are in a panic and straighforward Enda, even if he is a bit boring, seems to be their cup of tea, especially as he is coming across as confident and with plenty of followers.

Labour and Gilmore have not done their homework. For months the media and FG were saying that Labour had no policies drawn up. Yet Gilmore had been flying high in the polls. But now with the hard debating up and running Gilmore is lost and his policies appear to lack clarity and cohesion. Enda rattles off the 5 thing plan, giving the impression that they are working hard behind the scenes. In contrast Gilmore looks a bit too populist, with not enough work done.  The public want to see people who will at least work hard and sensibly.

In fairness to FG they seem to have worked hard, prepared themselves well and chosen a formula that is resonating with the public. Is this what Enda is about, restructing the party for 9 years with good old fashioned hard work and a bit of cleverness?  I just hope it wont take Enda as long with restructuring Ireland.

The only real threat to FG for command of the middle ground is Labour. I would think it is worth Labour's time to challenge FG that they are not radical enough. Labour's roots should be more working class, allow the middle ground to FG and work more on the working class. Challenge FG that they will not do enough to burn bondholders or restructure debt. But SF are doing this with more zeal and so Labour are being squeezed on two fronts. Labour should have thought this through.

The Greens

I can't see any Green TD holding onto their seats. I hear that latest opinion poll for Ryan is 2%. They are being hammered for not being strong enough to stand up to FF in government. The only man for that job was Trevor Sargeant and he swore not to lead the party into government with FF and resigned the leadership. This in hindsight was a fatal blow; Gormley was not tough enough; Ryan seemed to be happy once in power and FF keep feeding him morsels of power until he coughed on them eventually.  Sargeant would have been tougher.

Unfortunately I'd say the Greens could have made an important contribution to the debate on principles and clean honest politics. They have been tarnished and need togo to their compost heaps and renourish.

One week to go and by my reckoning it is basically game over. I must check out the bookies in the next few days!

Can EU leaders fix the European Project?

Lisbon or no Lisbon these days the Irish are getting a crash course on how the EU works.

  

The principle of solidarity no longer at play

We in Ireland were told that the EU is based on solidarity, the sharing of markets and resources and more recently the sharing of a currency.  But as the Euro is under severe threat so is the European project as a whole. And solidarity does not seem to be the bottom line. Other harsher forces are at play.

When Greece stepped out of line they were told to impose austerity cuts like the Irish had done; this was back in April.  This was not warm solidarity but the harsh uncaring knives of bankers looking for their money back.  They did not seem to care about the future consequences for the social fabric of Greece.

  

The knives are sharpen for Ireland

Next came Ireland.  In late November just before the cold spell the IMF and the EU brought their knives to Ireland. Ye have already cut they said but we think now ye should go deeper.  They sharpened their knives and gave them to the Irish government for them to do the cutting.  Like the Greeks the obvious lack of solidarity with the Irish was evident.

The EU leaders are afraid.  Afraid of the Euro failing and of the EU structure collapsing.  They are also afraid of the political reaction of their own countries.

  

Are these European leaders or just national leaders?

The life of an EU leader is different to the average man or woman.  Speaking to people on the street these days they also fear for their money.  I have spoken to many who are wondering what to do with their savings, some big, some small.  Should they put it in Rabodirect, the Dutch bank or even into a sterling account as the Euro may loss value?

Yet far removed from the average person the EU leader is driven around the streets

and meets people in well heated rooms and imposing buildings.  They listen to the rumblings from their political support in their own country and also listen to what the other EU leaders say.  A balance needs to be struck.

Helmut Kohl of Germany lead the European Project with Mitterand of France to closer EU integration and German unification.  Kohl had his eye on long term principles.  He was a European leader.  He  nurtured the principle of solidarity and lead this way.

Today we have Merkel and Sarkozy leading the engine of Europe.  Are these people leaders of the European project?

In a detailed interview in the Irish Times last June, Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher and political thinker spoke of the current generation of German political leaders, Merkel being one of them, “these people shy away from farsighted goals and constructive political projects, let alone an undertaking like European unification.” (1)

As the European leaders meet in Brussels this Thursday and Friday to discuss the Euro debt crisis, two leading German political figures - Social Democrats parliamentary leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former finance minister Peer Steinbrueck, writing in the Financial Times - said the eurozone needed a "more radical, targeted effort to end the current uncertainty".

These would include partially restructuring debts of Greece, the Irish Republic and Portugal, guaranteeing the bonds of stable countries and a limited introduction of pan-European bonds.

And earlier in the week the BBC stated

.. there has been criticism of some of the EU's key players who are seen as often dominating decision-making.

"I can only warn Germany and France against making a claim to power, which reflects a certain haughtiness and arrogance and disregards the European principle of solidarity," Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, told Die Welt newspaper. (2)

The Future Path for Europe

So the European project which was lead for years by Kohl and Mitterand under the principle of solidarity has spawned new leaders.  If these new leaders are not concerned with the European project what does the future hold?

At a pragmatic level the EU and the Euro needs to be fixed.  Even the leader of the IMF  Dominique Strauss-Kahn stated only last week “ The eurozone has to provide a comprehensive solution to this problem. The piecemeal approach, one country after another, is not a good one," (3)

At the EU summit this Thursday and Friday the EU agreed to formalise the bailing out of countries that are in debt trouble in the eurozone area.  They are describing this as a new solution yet it is nothing but writing down what they have been doing since the Greek crisis this year. There has been no change in their piecemeal policy. 

Moody's this week have warned Spain that they may downgrade its debt ratings which has significantly increased Spain's actual cost of financing its debt.  

The markets will rest over Christmas yet the clouds have not dispersed from over Spain. The first few months of 2011 will tell a lot.

Perhaps a new leader will emerge from another European country that can counter this and gather the other countries under an umbrella of solidarity inherited from Kohl and put Europe back on a stable footing.  Can Ireland influence this gathering?

Much is at stake.

Links

(1)    Habermas , Jurgen in http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0612/1224272354438.html

(2)    BBC in http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11997725

(3)    Strauss-Kahn in http://www.presstv.ir/detail/154436.html

Will Civic Disorder Spread to Ireland?

Police and Fire Brigade striking in Greece

A former government minister with blood on his face, youths throwing missiles, the police and the fire brigade on strike.  These were the scenes of civic chaos in Athens this week as the government voted in further austerity measures.  The IMF and EU have unleashed strong forces of political anger, unthinkable in Europe a few years ago.  And Greece has  more cutting of budgets to do next year and the year after, under the guidance of the IMF and the EU.(1)

The Irish parliament voted for its own EU/IMF bail-out this week amid more muted protests.  But fault lines are beginning to show here also.

On the ground during the ICTU march at the end of November it was evident that public disbelief had crystallised into dismay and large scale anger.  This anger was been harnessed by parties who previously have not held the reins of power.  These “ anti-establishment parties” are Sinn Féin, The Socialists and various disgruntled Independents. 

If these parties gain an electoral mandate in the forthcoming general election under the banner that the establishment has done the country a serious wrong then Ireland itself may unleash its own nasty forces of civic unrest.

In what form could Irish civic unrest manifest itself?

This is difficult to see but the public is unlikely to bottle it up for very long.  The sleepy Irish voter may become active.  What with large scale unemployment, with large number of young males wishing to stand up and be manly, all is needed are a few further ingredients and order could disintegrate fast.  A large anti-establishment vote would be one of these ingredients, directing  critical threat to the civic order.

Patriotic duty - Flying th Green Flag

Pearse Doherty, young and vibrant with a sharp intellect is a new force in the Dáil.  Gerry Adams looks very likely to be by his side.  Sinn Féin will be flying the Green Flag of Patriotism high.  The Irish people have been wronged.

On the other side Fianna Fáil are flying their Green Flag of Patriotism.  Lenihan and Cowen have barked for a long time that the Irish people had no other choice; we had to accept the bail-out.

It is noteworthy that if Fianna Fáil believe accepting the Bail-out was of serious national importance why did they not cover their historical reputations and put the Bail-out to a referendum/general election.  Fianna Fáil have taken a very serious gamble by doing so.  Some things are too big to be decided by government.   

History will judge this decision.

If forces of civic unrest are unleashed then Fianna Fáil may suffer politically for years.

Fianna Fail has lost the working class vote

Gerald O’Regan on Thursday spoke how Fianna Fáil deputies were shocked at their abysmal showing in the recent polls results.  The latest Irish Times poll gives a 90% dissatisfaction rating for them.  Some of the more established FF TD’s are retiring; quietly cognisant of the difficult battle ahead for the party.

In the working class areas, especially in Dublin, where FF did very well in the past two elections, their vote has literally collapsed. Sinn Féin and Labour are benefiting.

How are the Fianna Fáil TD’s shocked at these poll ratings, are they not walking the same streets as the rest of us?

They have refused to listen to the public and so have not changed.  They have turned into caricatures and will only be objects of ridicule in the next election.

Dark forces in 2011

If dark forces are unleashed in 2011 the Irish may pay a large price in social terms.  The Irish public’s image of the establishment and furthermore its relationship with Europe will be seriously damaged.

Will Fine Gael and Labour be able to harness this anti-establishment anger and turn it into something productive?  Perhaps.  Already they have voted against the Budget and the Bail-out and they are beginning their election footing by saying they will renegotiate the Bail-out. Will their election campaign have bite and vigour to attract the disgruntled voter.

If Sinn Fein and some other “anti-establishment” parties get into power will they be able to do so productively and be a positive force for change; Sinn Fein has made this establishment step in The Northern Assembly.

2011 will tell a lot.  We the Irish are a few steps behind the game.  If we had seen more sense and called an earlier general election, or even played a stronger hand with the EU/IMF  we would be further down the road of a more realistic solution to this crisis.  In 2011 we again will be waiting for the large countries in the EU to solve this problem.  And will be spend the first few months debating whether we should have taken the bail-out offered? Better late than never.  Hopefully the Irish can influence finding a better balance to their affairs next year and not end up like Greece with serious social unrest damaging the very fabric and order in society.

Links

(1) BBC pictures of Recent Greek riots  www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11998632