Ship of Fools (28 page)

It is, under these conditions, perfectly possible to create a society in which life for the majority is actually better and more secure than it was during the height of the boom. If resources in the health system are not split between subsidised private medicine and underdeveloped public facilities, the same money can go a lot further. A very good public pension system could be created from the amount of money currently spent on the state pension plus the €3 billion annual subsidies to private pensions. The extravagant wastefulness of the property boom, in which huge resources were squandered on the creation of houses, hotels and offices that no one really wanted, can be turned to the provision of decent homes for everyone. Even in straitened times, a political system which gives priority to the meeting of basic needs (health, education, childcare, housing, pensions) and cuts out the swaggering, the pet projects and the pampering of an elite, can deliver real improvements for the majority of citizens. That in turn can replace the boomtime delusions of grandeur with a real sense of pride.

It is worth remembering, too, that in Ireland, as in all other developed societies, there was, beyond a certain point, no real relationship between money and happiness. Surveys showed that while GDP was doubling, the proportion of people declaring themselves ‘very happy with the life you lead' actually declined steadily from a peak in 1997. This does not mean that there should be nostalgia for mass unemployment, emigration and poverty. But it does suggest that there is, for the Irish as for most human beings, a point at which basic needs are satisfied, a reasonable degree of security has been achieved and powerful but intangible feelings like belonging to a society in which one can feel some pride become possible.

That point is contained in one word that the Celtic Tiger did not have in its lexicon: ‘enough'. Ireland cannot, and should not, seek to return to the hysterical hyper-capitalist growth of the period between 2002 and 2008. But if it keeps its eyes fixed on that point where enough is enough, it can, not just survive, but thrive. Its people have enough energy, enough talent, enough resourcefulness, enough imagination. The question is whether they have enough constructive anger to kick away a system that has failed them and make a new one for themselves.

Abrahamson, Lenny

agriculture

Ahern, Bertie: adaptability/ opportunism; fundraising; Irish economy and; personal finances; political values of; proposed salary rise; public image; relationship with Charles Haughey; speech by

Ahern, Cecelia

Ahern, Georgina

Allied Irish Bank (AIB)

Americas Society

Andrews, David

Anglo Irish Bank

Ansbacher scam

Ardagh, Seàn

Bacall, Lauren

Bailey, Mick

Bailey, Tom

Bank of Ireland

banking regulation ;
see also
Central Bank, IFSRA

Barry, Sebastian

Benson, Mary

Bradshaw, Lar

Bruton, John

Burke, Ray

Byrne, Adrian

Byrne, Nicky

Carr, Marina

Catholic Church; sexuality/reproductio n and

Cato Institute

Cayman Islands

celebrity culture

Celtic Tiger; creation of; decline of; economic growth and; legacy of

Celtic Tiger, The
(dance show)

Central Bank: as regulator of banking system

Christina O
(yacht)

Clarke, Michael

Colley, George

Commitments, The
(film)

Common Agricultural Policy

Conlon, Jerry

construction industry

Corruption Assets Bureau

Coughlan, Mary

Cowen, Brian

Cromien, Seán

cronyism

Culliton, Jim

debt, levels of: personal public

Delors, Jacques

Depfa (Deutsche Pfandbriefanstalt)

depopulation

deprivation, cycles of

Desmond, Dermot

DIRT (Deposit Interest Retention Tax)

Doherty, Pat

Donovan, Terry

Douglas, Roy

Drumm, David

Dubai

Dunlop, Frank

Dunne, Ben

Dunne, Sean: plan to develop Ballsbridge, Dublin

economic competitiveness

economic forecasts

economic growth

economic miracle

education

Eircom

emigration

English, Barry

Enright, Anne

enterprise, encouraging

EU (European Union)

Eurofood;
see also
Parmalat

European Commission

exports

Fahy, Michael

false economy

Farrell, Pat

female sexuality, controlling

feminism

Fianna Fáil ; power of; sexuality/reproductio n and

Fine Gael

Finnegan, John

Fitzgerald, Niall

Fitzgerald, Scott

Fitzpatrick, Seán

Flatley, Michael

Flood tribunal

foreign investment: US; Netherlands

Free market ideology

Friel, Brian

FSI (Financial Services Ireland)

Gallagher, Paul

GE Capital Real Estate

global ideology, Irish habits and

globalisation

Gogarty, James

Good Friday agreements (1998)

Gramm, Phil

Gross Domestic Product (GDP); decline of; EU level of

Gross National Product (GNP)

Guinness and Mahon (G&M) Bank

Hanafin, Des

Haran, Paul

Harney, Mary

Harris, Pino

Haughey, Charles

Hely-Hutchinson, Mark

Heraty, Anne

Heritage Foundation; Irish model and

Honduran National Business Council

Houldsworth, John

Hurley, John

Iceland

IDA (Industrial Development Agency)

IFSC (International Financial Services Centre)

IFSRA (Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority)

ILP (Irish Life and Permanent)

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

immigration

income taxes, cutting

infrastructural developments

Intel

Irish Bankers Federation

Irish economy; collapse of; growth of

Irish habits, global ideology and

Irish Life and Permanent

Irish model; enthusiasm for

Irish Nationwide

IT projects

James Hardie

Katona, Kerry

Keane, John B.

Kelly, Anto

Kelly, Christine

Kelly, Kevin

Kelly, Morgan

Kelly, Paddy

Kenny report (
Report of the Committee on the Price of Building Land
)

Kerrigan, Gene

Keynes, John Maynard

Kilroy, Thomas

land prices

Latvia First

Latvia's Way

Lawlor, Liam

Le Monde
, on Ireland

Leahy, Pat

Lee, Joe: on national income

Lenihan, Brian

Lobo Sosa, Porfirio

Lowry, Michael

McAteer, Willie

McCain, John

McCann Fitzgerald

McCaughey, Gerry

McCracken tribunal

McCreevy, Charlie ; credo of; tax cuts and

McDowell, Michael

McFadden, Brian

McGann, Gary

McGonigal

McKeown, Hugh

McKillen, Paddy

McManus, J. P.

McNamara, Bernard

Magnier, John

Mahon tribunal

Mansergh, Martin

manufacturing jobs; decline of; as engine of growth

Martin, Micheál

Mitchell, Daniel

Morgan Stanley Real Estate

Moriarty tribunal

Mulryan, Sean

Murphy, Tom

Murray, Charles

NAMA (National Asset Management Agency)

National Competitiveness Council

national income

National Irish Bank

National Spatial Strategy

Neary, Pat

neo-liberals

non-residents, tax avoidance by,
see
DIRT

O'Brien, Denis

O'Brien, Eugene

O'Brien, Henry

O'Brien, Justin

O'Callaghan, Owen

O'Connell, Maurice

O'Connor, Pádraic

O'Dea, Willie

O'Dolan, John

O'Donoghue, John

O'Faoláin, Seán

O'Farrell, Brian

O Grada, Cormac

O'Grady-Walshe, Timothy

O'Halloran, Mark

Ó hEithir, Breandán

O'Leary, Michael

O'Reilly, Joe

O'Reilly, Liam

O'Reilly, Tony

O'Reilly-Hyland, Ken

O'Rourke, Kevin

Obama, Barack

Orwell, George

Parlon, Tom

Parmalat

Pfizer

political ideas

political power

population growth

populist politics

poverty; levels of consistent

Powell, Benjamin

production

Progressive Democrats

property boom;
see also
construction industry

Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

public services

public spending, cuts in

Quinlan, Derek

Quinn, Ruairi

Quinn, Seán

Recks, Declan

Redmond, George

Reddy, Tony

Richardson, Des

Robinson, Mary

Ronan, Johnny

Ross, Seamus

Salmond, Alex

Scanlan, Gerry

Slattery, William

Smurfit, Michael

social ambition, poverty of

social democracy

social goals

social partnership

social services

Spollen, Tony

sports stadium

Stephenson, Sam

Stewart, Jim

Sutherland, Peter

Swift, Jonathan

tax avoidance/evasion;
see also
DIRT

tax cuts

tax incentives

Teahon, Paddy

TNCs (transnational corporations)

Tóibín, Colm

transport policies

Traynor, Des

Trinidad government, seminar by

Ulster Bank

unemployment

US/Uruguay chamber of commerce

van der Kamp, Henk

Wall Street Journal, The
: Irish economy and

Wall Street Journal
/Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, The

Washington Speakers Bureau

Westlife

William Fry

Women's liberation movement

FINTAN O'TOOLE is an acclaimed historian, biographer and critic. As a columnist with the
Irish Times
, he is Ireland's most respected and controversial political commentator, whose name was almost a term of abuse among the politicians who presided over the economic debacle of recent years. His books include
White Savage
and
A Traitor's Kiss
.

PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997. It is a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.

 

I. F. STONE, proprietor of
I. F. Stone's Weekly
, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journalists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published
The Trial of Socrates,
which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.

 

BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of
The Washington Post.
It was Ben who gave the
Post
the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling books.