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Soapbox: Here's what matters to Enda and his ministers
You'll never guess what the Government has made our top priority in EU affairs, writes Gene Kerrigan
PUBLISHED15/03/2015 | 02:30
OPEN GALLERY 1
The Government is getting stroppy. It's almost as though there's an election on the way. Last week, they set down red lines.
Red lines are a government's absolute bottom line - the issues that are not negotiable.
When a government sets down red lines it's grabbing other nations by the lapels and snarling: "You wanna step over that line? You wanna piece-a-me, punk?"
Over the past seven years, as EU finance ministers jostled to make others pay for the crisis caused by the very rich, they all had red lines - issues on which they would make no concession.
All of them, except our Government.
They let it be known they'd accept whatever they were told to accept. This was forced on the Fianna Fail government; the Fine Gael/Labour government eagerly grasped obsequiousness as a strategy.
Last week, Michael Noonan laid down two red lines - the two things that matter most to us as a nation, on which we will not budge. You'll never guess what one of them is.
Over the past five years or so, the fighting Irish have become noted for their timidity. The European Central Bank says: "Jump!" We say: "How high?"
The ECB says: "Pay the nice German bankers the money they lost gambling on Irish property". And our politicians stand tall and say: "Do you take Visa?"
Mr Mario Draghi has, I believe, a special spot on his left buttock, on which is inscribed a tattoo of a pair of lips - reserved for the sole use of Michael Noonan.
Suddenly, though, we're threatening to kick ass if these guys disrespect our red lines.
Some say kissing up to the powerful in the EU was embarrassing, but it had to be done. It worked, they say.
Look, the economy is growing, they say. The figures are distorted, but there's definite growth.
It was humiliating, having to respect everyone else's red lines, while having none of our own - but, like they say, it worked.
It worked if you forget the debt that will weigh this country down for generations, a massive out-of-proportion share of the cost of trying to fix the European banking system.
It worked if you ignore the unemployment and emigration it caused.
It worked if you forget the swathes of citizens swept to the margins - people who exist on zero-hour contracts and the hope of an internship that might lead to a probation that might result in a temporary casual job that pays just over the minimum wage - and, oh goodie, here comes the Irish Water bill.
It works if you forget the money drained from the economy in levies and charges that will never, ever go away.
It works if you forget the swarms of people now being brought into the courts, to have their houses repossessed.
Ah, now - say the bankers - it's not that bad. Sure, we're going after just a fraction of the houses we could repossess.
Indeed, that's true - the work of the banks, destroying the lives of thousands of individuals and families, leaving them scrambling for shelter, has hardly begun.
Here's an interesting juxtaposition.
Limerick courthouse heard a series of cases in which 219 homes were being repossessed. The court endured harrowing tales of people who worked hard and when things went bad they tried to juggle their income and borrowings - but, no dice. Property prices are on the up, the banks can smell the money. They want to get their hands on the houses, and sell them - profits up, bonuses on the horizon.
While this was going on, at a Limerick hotel not far away, a number of people were having a nice breakfast under the auspices of An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. It was a fundraising breakfast, to allow those who have done well from the recession to pitch in some thank-you money, swelling the party's election war chest.
Every single thing the Government does these days is about the 2016 general election (which might well be held in 2015).
Mr Kenny panhandles the grateful wealthy, to boost his war chest. Meanwhile, Michael Noonan thinks strategically - which is where our red lines come in.
From the beginning, the plan was to impose austerity in 2011, and to keep deflating the economy through 2012, to gouge us with more charges in 2013, to inflict on us, in 2014, the delights of Irish Water.
And then, in 2015, to change gear. Suddenly, as the election loomed, there would be money for tax cuts and other goodies. Then, once re-election was achieved, the austerity could resume in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, with Irish Water charges jacked up and up and up.
While Mr Kenny has been replenishing the war chest, Mr Noonan has been in Brussels, chatting up the European Commission, and having a word in the ear of Wolfgang Schauble, his German supervisor.
Here's what he said: "Give me budgetary space to make decisions for the 2016 budget that I'll be introducing in October . . . so that I'm not inhibited by European rules to spend money that I think is necessary."
Translation: "Lads, I'll need to splash the cash next October. Ease up on us - just for a while - or, Jayzus, you never know what kind of obstreperous crowd might put a government together."
Noonan pointed to the fact that France, Italy and Belgium were being allowed to postpone deficit targets - while, from the beginning, small countries like Ireland and Greece were refused permission to ease up on austerity. Noonan backed the relaxation of French austerity, and asked for some "flexibility" - which will allow him create a vote-friendly budget in October.
The cost of saving European banks was disproportionately imposed on Irish citizens.
Initially, this Government talked of the need for a debt write-off. In the summer of 2012, Enda Kenny told us he had achieved a "seismic shift", and gave the impression that a write-off was on the way. He was made look foolish.
Today, Greece wants debt write-offs. On the face of it, this could be used to strengthen our case. Instead, Mr Noonan stepped in smartly, finally coming up with a red line issue.
"I have two red lines," he said. The first: "No country is to exit the eurozone". Fair enough. Second? "I don't want debt write-offs."
The policy of seeking a write-off has been not just dropped but reversed. Ireland will actively work against debt write-offs, and will seek to kill any attempt to give Greece a write-off.
Why?
Wouldn't it make more sense to support the Greeks, and insist on us benefiting from similar write-offs?
The chances of the Greeks getting a write-off are small. Frau Merkel and Herr Schauble and their ideological comrades (including our Government) intend to teach the Greeks a lesson, for daring to elect a left-wing government.
But, suppose the Greeks got a write-down. Suppose playing hardball was seen to pay off. That would open opportunities for us. But it would make the Fine Gael/Labour strategy of obsequiousness look pathetic.
So, at long last, our Government has found something worth fighting for - a veto on any reduction in the debts with which we shouldn't have been saddled in the first place.
Sunday Independent
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