Llewellyn
King
Read Llewellyn's bio and previous columns
August 27, 2009
Ireland: Trouble in
Threes
BALLINA, Ireland –
Even by Ireland's legendary standards for rain, this summer has been
particularly wet. But it was not the weather that accounts for the gloom
that grips the Emerald Isle. As heavy rains were pushing the River Moy,
which flows through this Co. Mayo town of 8,000, above flood stage, the
attendees of the Humbert Summer School (a kind of think tank) were
pondering this solemn subject: “Can Ireland be redeemed?” The answer was
maybe, if there was a single answer.
Ireland is in the
grip of two crises and is facing a third – three crises that undermine
its national self-confidence and imperil its economic future.
Crisis One: A
shattering report on child abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland has
found that it was systematic and extended possibly over centuries, that
it was known and tolerated at the highest levels of government and that
it was also known and tolerated by the Vatican. Indeed Tom Arnold, head
of Concern, a Dublin charity, told the conference that the Vatican did
not act because it believed the church would be undermined and it wanted
a devout Christian country to counter the secular nature of neighboring
Britain.
The child abuse
scandal, which dwarfs church sex scandals elsewhere, is alleged in
Ireland to have been more pervasive, more institutionalized and to
incorporate cruelty, especially by the notorious Christian Brothers, a
disciplinary educational order. For the Irish, with their large families
and sense of family values being paramount, the full extent of the
scandal has been devastating, causing a great swath of the population to
wonder how long they have been living a lie.
Crisis Two: The
Irish economy is in tatters and, by most analysis, will not recover in
tandem with the rest of the world.
In recent years
Ireland has enjoyed prosperity, the likes of which it has never known in
history. It boomed partly because of European Union structural funds and
partly because of American computer companies, which located there to
take advantage of the population's high literacy rate. Computer firms
flooded cities like Galway – once a dreamy seaport city more famous for
its bookshops than its millionaires.
The boom caused
Ireland to be dubbed “The Celtic Tiger.” Ireland was growing faster than
any other economy in Europe.
With dynamic growth
came overheating and property speculation. And with property speculation
came banking insanity. The banks were eager, too eager, to lend against
inflating property values. Sound familiar?
But now, the banks
are being bailed out and the taxpayers are howling. Justice Vivian Lavan
told me that no houses are being sold because no one knows how to value
them. Unemployment, under control for 15 years, is back and climbing
beyond 13 percent.
On the horizon is
Crisis Three: Once again, the Irish have to vote on the Lisbon Treaty, a
document that tidies up odds and ends in the structure of the European
Union. A year ago, Irish voters rejected the treaty to the considerable
annoyance of the rest of the EU and the embarrassment of the Irish
government.
Now Irish objections
have been met and a new vote, critical to Ireland's continuing influence
in the councils of Europe, is scheduled for Oct. 2. Ireland, with a
population of only 4.5 million, has worked tirelessly to extend its
influence through “good offices” and diplomatic maneuvering. Now, that
is imperiled. Ireland may well again bite the hand that has fed it
generously.
In favor of the
treaty are the main Irish political parties (Fine Gael and Fianna Fail),
the Irish business establishment and the inward investors, including
American companies like Shell Oil and Dell. Against is a strange
coalition that includes the nationalistic Sinn Fein (the political wing
of the Irish Republican Army), extremely conservative Catholic groups,
Greens and a band of hippie activists. On paper they are not much, but
they defeated the Lisbon Treaty last June. They argue that Europe will
legalize and promote abortion, imperil Irish neutrality, raise taxes and
dilute labor laws. Proponents say there are cast-iron guarantees on all
of these issues, but detractors say they are not worth the paper they
are written on.
The Oct. 2
referendum on the treaty will test a battered island.
© 2009 North Star
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