The election is over; the hard work must now begin

The electorate has spoken and the shock to the political system here in Meath and nationally resulting from the general election, expected as it was, has truly been seismic. It provides an opportunity for deep reflection by all political parties in how the nation can chart its way through the unknown economic and social problems ahead. The people of this country have spoken out clearly for change and it will take men and women of great courage to give them the answers they are seeking. In a description of the Herculean task ahead of a new government in Ireland, we can do no better than draw comparisons between our country's situation and that which confronted Franklin D Roosevelt when he was elected 32nd President of the United States in 1933. He faced a national economic crisis and, following his inauguration and parade, he chose to forego the traditional celebratory ball and got down to work immediately. He confronted a banking crisis, tackled it head-on through legislation and used it to drive through his 'New Deal'. His first 100 days in office were vital to his plan to revitalise agriculture and provide immediate work for 250,000 young men between the ages of 18 and 25 through Civilian Conservation Corps. Not only was the White House firing on all pistons, the traditionally separate cabinet agencies were working together with a new synergy, often co-implementing programmes and working outside their fields of expertise. In the 'Hundred Days', Roosevelt enjoyed an often-pliant Congress and a honeymoon with the press. By its end, he had passed 15 major laws, given 15 messages to Congress and 10 speeches, held press conferences and cabinet meetings twice a week and sponsored an international conference, made all major policy decisions, foreign and domestic, and, as Arthur Schlesinger notes, "never displayed fright or panic and rarely even bad temper". Ireland's putative coalition government faces a crisis of similar magnitude. It is a fact that the debts of our creaking banks were underwritten by the last government, and it is immaterial now whether this was or was not the correct decision. What had started as a financial crisis turned into a sovereign debt crisis, leading to the EU/IMF bailout. The crash of the Celtic Tiger means we have 300,000 too many new homes, not to mention a glut of grant-aided hotels thrown up in the absence of any semblance of a quantified bed need. At the end of last year, the unemployment rate was 13.8 per cent of the workforce, GDP collapsed by 11 per cent, and government debt has quadrupled. It is perhaps inevitable that an election will be accompanied by the usual razzmatazz and it would be hard to deny those re-elected and newly-elected TDs of all parties who have had to campaign long and hard for their seats in the Dail their brief place in the sun. Now that it is over, the hard work must begin. There is a very short window of opportunity in efforts to do something about the EU bailout mechanisms. We have a double burden which may prove impossible to carry - the debts arising from the banking system and those arising from our exchequer deficit. We ought to know by now that the word 'fairness' will not loom large in the calculations of other EU governments. The best we can hope for is the impact we can create by the threat of a sovereign default in the years ahead, something that might provide a hazard to the European project. Certainly, despite the bluster of some parties during the election campaign, defaulting on our debts will not be an option. Within the terrible constraints presented to the new government, we can hope that Fine Gael and Labour, if they are to agree on terms within the next few days, will seize the moment to carry out fundamental reforms in a wide swathe of economic and social areas confronting the country. It will not be good enough to continue as before. Radical action is needed. Any opportunity we have to make progress as a nation over the next few years must be grabbed. Viable and realistic plans must be put forward, vested interests confronted and faced down and, above all, we need to create a society which respects all of our people's needs and aspirations.