Vincent Browne is one of those people whom I, and many others, have a love/hate relationship with. Seldom do I agree with what he says, but in an Irish Times article - Let's own up to our part in the burst bubble, he takes so many aspects of Irish society to task that at last he is talking sense. We all need to accept some blame for what has happened to our country. The blame is not equal - some arseholes like Seán Fitzpatrick and his fellow bankers need to take a really serious look at themselves as they are responsible for bring our beloved nation to its knees. But - asks Vincent Browne, who else is to blame?
Photo of Vincent Browne from Wikipedia. |
Browne rounds on the "plethoras of distinguished business and professional people on the boards" of the banks who fiddled as Ireland burned. He also takes to task the accountancy profession, solicitors, the health service, the political class, the regulators, the media, and finally the "schools, the universities, the homes of Ireland and the media again all created that culture of atavistic greed that drove us to and over the precipice". Just about everyone - no one is spared.
I remember an interview with the wonderful Wexford man Liam Griffin on the radio some time ago who was also espousing the same idea - we are all to blame. Griffin talked about people putting stained-glass windows in their bathrooms during the boom - were we all mad?
This would be hard for most people to accept - what part did I (you) play in the demise of our economy? I honestly don't think I personally did anything to reduce Ireland to where it is - but according to Browne and Griffin, we (I) all bear some responsibility.
Some people claim that they have not benefited from the boom. But take a look at the new roads, new hospital equipment, new buses, the airport, the Dublin Port tunnel, all the by-passes, high social welfare rates, all the teachers/nurses/guards that we have, the education system, the Luas, and many more benefits - can any of us say for certain that we did not benefit to some extent?
The blame game is over - we should move on. This does not excuse the arseholes and others who fecked Ireland. It might make us feel better to throw tomatoes at the holes of the arses - but it will not achieve anything.
As Vincent Browne finally states: "Yes, it’s time we owned up".
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