“I am happy as the first Irish leader in history to say there is peace on the island of Ireland” were the words spoken by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as he addressed the US Congress.
There is absolutely no doubt that the relations between the north and south of Ireland have improved in recent years, but there is still a lot more improvement that could be made, and so many would disagree with Ahern’s declaration.
Roads of Lower Ormeau and Garvaghy act as sectarian flash points and remind us of this fact, as beds of roses are not to be found in these areas, amongst others.
Ahern’s words were spoken far too emphatically, as usual making them seem dubious and made up. His own lack of credibility also added to this feel. Bertie Ahern has a legacy of denial and contraction. Ireland is officially the European country that is riddled with most debts – shockingly going up to as much as four or five times more than the European Union average for personal debt.
Mortgage debts total a colossal £138.8 billion, and credit cards reach £2.85 billion, which works out at around £33,733 of debt per person in the Republic of Ireland. That makes a final total of £142 billion worth of debts, shared out between a population that is only 4.3 million. Because of the concentration in the financial market and the severe lack of competition, inflation in some areas is sky high.
Unless you are earning over £50,000 a year, you have no chance of being able to own a home of your own, and that would still only be if you had a second income that would allow you to pay off a giant mortgage, that will ensure you live with no spare cash for a social life or much grocery shopping.
The economic success – or as it was so called – that Bertie Ahern saw during his era was built upon the basis of extreme bank lending, that has now ensured the majority of the Irish population are now working every possible hour in the day just to pay off these enormous amounts of debts and keep their head above water. While Ahern continues to feed the nation with lies, propaganda and proposals that are never going to emerge, the people of Ireland have lost all faith in the political system.
Without a doubt Bertie Ahern is very skilled in oral declarations and endearment, but these skills mean very little when the declarations he delivers are full of nothing but lies and fairytales.