Lessons from the Closure of the West Cork Railway

In March 1961 they closed the West Cork Railway the reason given was that it had accumulated losses of £56,000, the single line ran all the way to Bantry with detours to places like Baltimore and Courtmacsherry—basically this closure lead to the isolation of the whole region with both freight and commuter traffic gone, the cost of closing the line must eventually have been in the billions in monies lost to the local economy, this may have led directly to increased emigration, reduced tourists numbers, and the stagnation of industry so badly needed to sustain employment.

Well that is capitalism the one hard assed ideology that doesn’t work for the citizen but works only for the few that can take the cream from the cake before it goes stale. So capitalism was alive and well in 1961 and before that when Sean Lemass sold us the notion of private medicine. The dismantling of state started a long time ago and it is implemented with such nerve and skill that the average Joe citizen barely notices it, they use many devices such as newspapers television, religion, and movies whatever stick that can beat their drum, and it is not so much that they lie to Joe citizen no it is more that they just don’t tell all of the truth. For example people pay huge premiums to private health insurance companies to fund their private healthcare, yet they also pay income tax to fund the public health system, so why don’t the powers that be just charge the premium unto a person’s income tax bill, this would most likely work out more cost effective for the citizen but it would also mean a properly funding public health service for all citizens, the more you earn then the more you pay—fair and equal. Ah no –you can do that? Why? Well because it cuts out the profits been made in the privates system, by the likes of consultants and investors in private hospitals, we couldn’t possibly discommode them even if it were to the citizens benefit, one has to remember that these are Ireland’s brightest and best and without their little perks they might leave the country, along with the multinational corporations so then where would we be?

This is neoliberal doctrine my friends, the money ideology that keeps rich people rich and destroys communities and nations; they do this by destroying the fabric of communities, and by dismantling all idea of public service. To do this they reform public services this is usually preceded by spinning this particular service as wasteful and in need of reform, they are adept at swinging public opinion and creating a furore about dossers and costs in the public system, thus the public service collapses and is diluted or privatised, again the notion that there is no waste in the private sector, as the hard arsed serious players wouldn’t stand for it. Of course this is total nonsense I spent some time working for a large insurance group and the wastefulness was spectacular in all areas of its operation, and especially so at annual seminars where a banquet was held in a plush hotel with free drinks all night, how many corporate golf days are taken at the behest of some golf crazed MD—who fancies he is Gods gift?

In conclusion one cannot help but notice that the old style capitalism has grown some very sinister wings, the advent of globalisation has imposed an ideological nightmare throughout the world, it rains the same the world over, if one watches the adverts in Germany they run the same as in Spain and Portugal only the language is different. Many indigenous cultures are fading and losing their identities to Americanism’s and clichés from the movies, even the movies are becoming tired and boring many of them from the jaded fantasy genre—or light romantic comedies, by the way the next time you watch one of these—check out the suburban house these dude’s live in they are as we would say ‘Mansions,’ how many Americans live in Mansions? All would be fine and dandy with the world should all of this muck be societally good, and teach us how to behave and be happy, but the core problem with neoliberalism is that it doesn’t work, as in the case of the West Cork Railway it is the triumph of spin over truth, £56,000 losses led to billions in lost revenues –somewhere along the line—the hard-nosed accountants forgot the state must invest its stake in order to create profit, it is the simple fact that in this case on ideological grounds the state refused to pay, and disaster ensued.