On This Almighty Road

Many years ago I met my first entrepreneur –this man had a day job driving buses for CIE-as they were called in those days—but once a week he toured around our little estate in Sallynoggin collecting slops and we kept a separate bin for potato peels and vegetable cuttings. He collected them weekly without fail and used our waste to feed a small herd of pigs he kept fenced in his back garden. This was well before the Green party or any mention of environmental issues—most families were happy to supply him with his animal feed free of charge.
There are very few council houses these days where one could keep even a small herd of pigs but the houses in Sallynoggin whilst modest boasted large rear gardens with the corner sites having large front gardens but their rear gardens were smaller. So the ‘Slop man,’ Called to us, and he fed his pigs and obviously sold them on for a profit. He passed the entrepreneurial gene on as years later his son used to collect stale bread from the local supermarkets to feed his own herd of pigs.
As time passed I met more entrepreneurs in various stages of their development—indeed I even became one myself for a number of years with varying degrees of success. I worked for one man for over ten years and though he was basically a decent human being—he was given to a certain seriousness that one attaches to the modern version of my ‘slop man’. For example he was tight-fisted when it came to wages and expenses—often the money one earned was derisory for the amount of hard graft that was expected—but heck isn’t that what they say, keep your costs base low.
When I entered into this murky world myself I met many entrepreneurs who had set up retail businesses in the main they were nice men and women but they operated on very tight margins and the staff employed were on the minimum wage some even below it. The individuals themselves in the main worked long hard hours and I befriended a few of them. I genuinely admired these people for their get up and go attitude-and the risks they were willing to undertake so as to create their own businesses.
Allowing for all of that I am finding it extremely difficult to accept that entrepreneurs can save this or any other economy—to listen to government ministers talk the talk about our brilliant entrepreneurs is mind boggling. Many of these start up businesses, fail to get through the first two years in reality that is the case. Some enterprises fail through the inexperience of the protagonist –others fail because they cannot access the correct funding from the local banks. Many of the enterprises are too small to attract Angel capital or qualify for seed funding.
The entrepreneur is fast becoming the victim of the neo-liberal conspiracy in that small business is claimed to be its champion and the living proof of this ideology. Government ministers regularly quote how vital they are in the provision of jobs—yet they do nothing about the penal level of rates and the upward only rent reviews that cripple the said entrepreneur. When all is said and done we are expected to believe in the might of unregulated capitalism to lead us to the promised land and yet it is this very unregulated capitalism that has led us to the troubled waters we find ourselves in.
The smiling Richard Bruton is quite willing to avoid serious questions and use inaccurate information to further his thesis that the wealthy do not need to pay more tax—and that raising vat by 2% effects everyone not just the poor— (but it effects the poor far more)-and we need our entrepreneurs these great champions of our nation to continue creating jobs and they must not suffer higher taxes. This is an almighty road on which we toil I have no doubt, but I am certain that entrepreneurs will not lead us to its end. The idea of individualism is advanced by neo-liberals like Richard Bruton at every turn—in the same breath as promoting this brand of capitalism he congratulates the new government for reforming the public service. This reform he speaks of is basically a clear out, in cutting job numbers and closing down vital services.
How the world has changed since the slop man called once a week and how funny that a government should reform the public service its predecessors destroyed as they acquiesced to all demands for the sake of expediency.

Are Labour Prisoners in Government

The Labour party in Ireland has sold out-at least its parliamentary party has, they have been sucked in by the gaping mouth of neo-liberalism in all its guises. One has only to look at the recent decisions made by the coalition from the closure of army barracks to the proposed cuts in the public service and of course the forthcoming increase on vat rates by 2% -these actions and their complicit support in paying the unsecured bond holders have left them bereft of any credibility as a party of the left.
Their partners in crime the Fine Gael party who promised the Irish electorate that they would re-negotiate the dreadful bail-out deal imposed on there predecessors. As we know the re-negotiation amounts to more austerity and the unsecured bond holders are still being paid. One could argue that Labour are virtually prisoners within the confines of the financial mess this state finds in itself in, and others will claim that a Labour presence in Government stops the excesses of the neo-liberalist agenda. Of course this is all nonsense as in recent days it has been Labour spokespeople including Ruairi Quinn who are claiming that we have lost financial sovereignty and all cheques have to be countersigned.
The later claim in relation to the re-introduction of student fees is disingenuous to say the least as the Fianna Fail bail out fiasco was well and truly with us when he made his famous promise and nothing has changed fiscally since. So now Mr Gilmore is leading a frightened Labour party within a coalition made up of a majority of neo-liberals and the Labour party are hiding and covering their faces with masks. Of course their predicament is further troubled when faced with the stark truth about the European Union as it now exists.
The European Union is in the clutches of neo-liberal thinking and action and Ireland’s largest left wing party [I do Joke,] is expendable and ineffective against this might. Many wonder about the wisdom of the Labour leadership after the last general election-some see it is a pragmatic move by the party in that they were duty bound to represent those that elected them, within the new Government. Others argue that if the Labour party were ideologically to the left of centre-such a course of action should have been examined forensically before jumping in to the acid tank they now are dissolving in.
The Irish electorate in the main don’t go for ideology most people are media led and populist, and in television debates people look upon the panellists as one. Well sure they might be blowing their own trumpet but when the chips are down there isn’t that must separating them. This is not true anymore and it is now time for us all to mature ideologically.
Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney was asked recently on the Vincent Browne show as to why he was reluctant to tax the wealthy, he ranted on about how it would be madness to increase taxes on what he termed our brightest, by inference did Mr Coveney mean that the rest of the population were thick. It was also a stark reminder of the difference in ideology as the very wealthy pay very little income tax compared with the ordinary working person whether PAYE or self employed. The sheer fact that a government minister could make a statement of this nature on national television says so much for the culture within the Fine Gael party.

So what were Labours choices after the last election—obviously they chose to go into government thinking perhaps that on social issues they had much in common with the Fine Gael party. The other choice they had was to form the opposition in the Dail with possible support from Sinn Féin and some independents along with the United Left Alliance it is possible also that on some issues they may have sought and got Fianna Fail support. It could have been a staunch opposition opposing the terrible austerity that is lashing the citizens of this state. Perhaps this united left opposition would have supported the occupy movements and help form other means of protest.
What Labour has done instead is to betray the very people who elected them—is the Labour leadership aware of the hurt they are causing the citizens of this country? One wouldn’t hold out too much hope for them in the next election if they continue on the dangerous path they are following blindly. It is time for Mr Gilmore to re-think the countersigning of cheques spin and impose some left wing austerity on the neo-liberals surrounding them.