Fallout from euro membership makes it painfully obvious that we are still much closer to Boston than Berlin
I AM feeling so much closer to Boston than Berlin these days. Emotionally, that is. Physically too. I am in the US and over recent days have visited four cities – Syracuse in upstate New York, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The trip has been work-related but I have also taken the opportunity to visit family here. I have lots of family here.
It is remarkable to be in a foreign country these days where to simply be Irish is such cause for pride and celebration. In all four cities only our Tricolour comes near matching the number of US flags on display, along with green bunting, green shamrocks, all those tricoloured ribbons O!
And amidst all that deep affection for Ireland and things Irish there is only sympathy for our current financial predicament. There is none of the “through your fault, through your fault, through your most grievous fault” tone of judgment, such as is currently emanating from Frankfurt and Brussels where we are concerned. Here in the US we are neither pariahs nor PIGS. We are just so welcome.
My own connection with the US is not untypical for someone from the west of Ireland. It is deeply personal. My grandmother spent her youth here. Two grandaunts and a granduncle “disappeared” here in the early decades of the last century. My uncle in New York emigrated here in the 1950s. My two brothers in Philadelphia emigrated here in the 1980s.
Their combined eight children and nine grandchildren mean there are now more McGarrys of the next two generations here than in Ireland. We had thought that was over when the Celtic Tiger arrived. Now the family faces disappearance in Ireland. It may be no loss but for us it means a greatly diminished old age.
On March 16th last we had the first “Australian wake” in our family. It was for my nephew Garry who emigrated to Sydney two weekends ago. Next month my nephew Declan is also moving there. Now we anticipate visiting descendants in Australia also. Our scattered people.
It has been said at home that 16 young people from Ballaghaderreen (population less than 2,000) emigrated to Australia during March alone. There they joined those tens of other young people from the town and its surrounds already in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth. It grows lonely ’round the sportsfields of my home town.
Meanwhile, as our lifeblood ebbs away, Europe continues to torture the majority of Irish people for the recklessness of a few. It promises only more of the same for years ahead. Europe should know better. Europe must remember what can happen when you pile on the agony and offer a people no way out.
Reparation without relief is a recipe for disaster. And a people in despair can resort to desperate means. Our European history illustrates this.
Indeed, the EU might not exist or be needed without that history. And we waged war on nobody. I have always been a committed supporter of the EU. I remain so but it grows tepid. Then, we are among Europe’s minnows and so disaffection on our part does not appear to be a great concern.
Nor is our experience that the euro has been a disaster for Ireland, as it has been for others among the peripheral economies. The currency has been constructed around the needs of the larger countries – so we had low interest rates when it suited them, though it was tragic for us.
On the euro’s introduction in January 2002, as our competitive, export-led economy was powering ahead, we were flooded with cheap credit which drove our banks and developers off the deep end. That did not seem to concern Frankfurt.
And now, as we suffer the consequences of such low interest rates, they are to be raised by the European Central Bank to favour those same larger economies, even if it piles on the agony where we are concerned. This is unjust and unfair. It is plain wrong. Where is the solidarity?
Yes, there was reckless lending and slight regulation in Ireland over critical years. But, as has been pointed out frequently elsewhere, there was also reckless lending by European banks to Irish banks and slight – if any – regulation by the ECB.
What was happening here at the time was known in Europe then. In September 2007 German ambassador to Ireland Christian Pauls made that clear to German businessmen at the Clontarf Castle hotel. He even illustrated the craziness of the Irish property scene by saying you could buy a skyscraper in Frankfurt for the same price as a house in Dublin.
I was speaking to a senior German official in Berlin on a visit there in February 2008. He expressed ill-disguised contempt for those responsible for the conduct of affairs in Ireland. If Europe knew then what was going on in Ireland, why did it not act on its responsibilities both to the EU and the Irish people? It didn’t.
It fell down on the job and so 1.5 million Irish workers – as well as supporting over 300,000 public servants – are expected to shoulder a burden of more than €70 billion – maybe €100 billion – while also paying 5.8 per cent interest. It is crucifixion. Our young people are right to go. The future is elsewhere.
John Waters is on leave