Is it any wonder that people are directing their anger at the cossetted politicians?
FORTY DAYS before the flood, Ceasair with 50 girls and three men came to Ireland; this was in the Age of the World 2242, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. It's small wonder we've had problems ever since. The same source tells us that over the next few hundred years, many of Ireland's great lakes "erupted", presumably from land that had been dry before. In 2535, Laighlinne, son of Parthalon, died and that when his grave was dug, a lake sprung up over him. Presumably it had been very wet and the water table must have been high.
So if the Four Masters have the right of it, we’ve been here before although not seemingly in recent times. We’re here now with a vengeance. Large tracts of the country have been devastated, homes have been ruined, businesses and livelihoods lost and all of this coupled with the woes of recession. Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Tipperary and Carlow have all been flooded to greater or lesser degree, and flood defences have proved totally inadequate. Furthermore, the response to the calamity has been weak and fragmented.
The official response seems to be that it’s all God’s fault. I always was taught that God helped those who helped themselves. We’re told that the situation is being monitored and that the crisis is “in hand”. The Government has allocated €10 million thus far to alleviate some of the consequences of this flood and an extra €2 million for the farmers. I think it would have been better if no sum had been mentioned and that the luckless people afflicted had been reassured that their country would look after them. Anybody can see that the monies involved will be multiples of those sums.
This is all wrong. The first priority is to contain the waters and get people back into their houses and businesses, and to save the livestock and make sure they are fed. This requires mobilisation of all necessary resources, not just a handful of soldiers and a few sandbags.
Instead, it is being left to local communities and voluntary organisations and it is too much for them. If we haven’t got the expertise, let’s ask for help from our European neighbours. The money is not relevant now; that can be worked out later. Insurance or no insurance, our fellow citizens must be helped, and there is little evidence of anything meaningful happening in any reasonable timeframe. I’m sick of watching the Taoiseach and Minister Gormley et al visiting the afflicted areas. We’re all visiting them too, on television and through family and friends suffering in these areas. What is needed from the powers in the land is that real help is delivered quickly.
There are more things on the minds of the great. The banks must be saved and the little people will have to wait. That is the culture of the past few years. Those culpable must be cossetted and shielded; those blameless can fend for themselves.
Is it any wonder that people are angry and they reject the cosy cabals that have brought us to the brink of ruin? Jobs for the boys and girls still permeates the thinking, whether it’s a new Commissioner, a new Senator or recent appointments to State boards. The pensions, the cars, the constituency offices, nothing seems to change for you, but outside there is detrimental change for everybody else. We know that hard times are here and getting worse and we know that sacrifice is necessary. It’s about time you knew it, too.
Watching the flood waters swirl beneath Killaloe, I was minded of James Clarence Mangan’s poem Kincora. This was a translation from medieval Irish and I have amended some verses slightly.
Ah, where Kincora is Bertie the Boss
And where is the splendour that once was thine
And where are the builders and developers that sat
At the feasts in the tent and drank the red wine
Where O Kincora?
And where Kincora are the lads in the know
Whither Celtic Tiger, art thou gone?
Where are the bankers of the Golden Circle?
Where are the chancers Bertie led on?
Woe to Kincora,
I grew up when Shannon drainage was a perpetual election promise. There were always reasons why it never happened. Our politics have been about talking, promising and forgetting. That means letting down the ordinary folk who, up to now, have been driven like football fans to support their tribal teams. The current team should be relegated. The other teams need to smarten up their acts.
PS I suppose water charges are now out of the question.
- mneligan@irishtimes.com