Sacrificing our future for sake of bondholders

Dear sir - “I think it's a great pity that, in a democracy, people don't use the opportunity to put their prospective forward in a different way.†That was Mary Harney's quote on the Six-One News, after protesters threw eggs and cheese at her car. It's a great pity that, in a democracy, a government will hold its citizens to ransom by refusing to hold the by-elections that will surely evict them from office. The Irish Republic is in the grip of an economic crisis unprecedented in the history of our State. Decisions made by a corrupt Government and an inept Opposition have resulted in €120 to €200 billion of losses being foisted onto the Irish people. This Government is sacrificing the future of our republic for the sake of international bondholders, banks and property speculators. The implementation of Nama is a mechanism to allow those most guilty of the sabotage of the economy to escape without penalty. These people should be made to suffer the consequences of their actions, but this corrupt Government would prefer to cripple this country for generations to come. The concept of a republic is an idea, not a country or a place; it has always been associated with liberty, equality and fraternity. It has four distinct characteristics, namely to be democratic, internationalist, secular and socialist. This Republic must not abandon investment in its people, it must not use this recession as an excuse to embrace a right-wing agenda of reducing the democratic will of the Irish people. It must not use this crisis to dismantle and abandon the welfare state or to increase inequality by savaging the poor while protecting the rich. The decisions that have allowed this situation to develop are not being made in the interests of the citizens of the Republic but against them. They are anti-democratic. Rather than challenge them, the Government goes to the Opposition and merely looks for a consensus on the implantation of cutbacks in spending that will only worsen the economic crisis. In the Ireland of today, the concept of a democratic republic does not exist. Where is democracy when the citizens are denied their democratic right to vote by a craven cowardly government that has to be brought before the High Court to make it hold elections. We, as citizens of this republic, must always be on our guard for attacks on our democratic rights, because never in the history of our State has this right been more fragile. Yours, Stephen McGowan, Newhaggard Lane, Trim.