This post is an extract from a letter that a friend of mine wrote to our Taoiseach and also posted on facebook.
His name is Mick O' Brien and he has owned Snip its mens hair salon for as long as I can remember and so has seen many, many changes in trading over the years.Mick is not without his own demons of life at this time and is dealing with them with gusto and a positive outlook.
This letter seems to sum up what all of us are thinking at this very uncertain time in our life and the life of our country and her people. Read it and pause for a while, and if you feel the urge write a letter to our leaders without holding back.
Dear Enda Kenny,
Last night you addressed the nation. You patronised and you downplayed people's very real fears. You deigned to tell people that the mess we're in wasn't our fault. That we are not to blame. We already know this.
You recently suffered the loss of your mother. You expected, and received, condolences from the very people who are desperately hoping hospitals stay open, nurses are kept on the front line, and doctors are available to care for the sick. Thousands of people up and down this country are mourning the loss of loved ones. Thousands more are terrified that they will suffer a loss because they cannot afford the medical care they have a basic human right to access, but ministers like you have decided they can't have access to.
We are a changed Ireland, filled now with different races, cultures and creeds. But we are still Ireland. We are a small but mighty country who have seen tremendous loss in our history and have come out wearing our national pride like the badge of honour it should be. You and other ministers have brought this pride to breaking point. You have brought a country to its knees. But you have done it slowly knowing that had you (ALL of you) been honest about your intentions the fighting spirit of the Irish people would have been woken, and people would not have allowed you to destroy them the way you are doing now.
Instead you have done it slowly, you have brought people to such levels of despair that suicide has become a bigger part of people's lives than it ever had a right to be. Families are living on rations and still you tell us we can survive more. You have emptied people of their spirit, their fight, their confidence and you have done it knowingly and willingly.
You and your wealthy, elitest friends will laugh at the feeble attempts of students trying to fight for their right to education. At working class people who are trying to take a stand against cuts that will make it impossible for them to have a decent standard of living. You laugh because your cronies will not suffer from the future and their children will be able to afford an education.
You laugh because you have created a nation of people who look out for themselves, who you have programmed not to care about others because they can't afford to. But eventually EVERYONE will suffer from the Ireland the governemnts of recent past have created. One day, soon, people will remember that they have a right to have their ministers work FOR and not against them. One day they will decide that they will not take anymore from you. They will remember this small and might country and the legacy left to them from fighters who never took anything lying down.
I hope you are prepared for when that day comes. This is not YOUR Ireland, it belongs not to you, or Germany, or the investors you're so keen to impress but to US to the people who are suffering because of your heartless, soulless fight to the top. But the Irish people will not forgive or forget and they will force a change. One day
