A Letter from Ireland
a Chara,
This week, the Assembly in the North of Ireland and the Dáil (Parliament) in Dublin returned from recess.
The Assembly in the North is once again facing the reality of a lack of sovereignty. The budget for the North is set by London, and it is the job of the Assembly and Executive to manage the allocation. Once again, the amount is not enough to meet current demands, never mind investing in the future. The budget is set by the British government, which is not elected by or accountable to the people of the North of Ireland.
The Executive in the North is a mandatory coalition of parties with opposing views and priorities. As the pie gets smaller, tensions arise between parties. That is the nature of the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement. Just as the budget cuts and economic stagnation are the cost of continued partition and the Union with Britain.
In Dublin, the Irish Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, supported by indepenents has been in power for a year. Over that period, the housing crisis has deepened with sky-high rents and increasing house prices, pushing families out of the market in favour of landlords and investment trusts. The market is driving these increases as developers control housing supply and the government stands idly by.
Over the past year, the lack of action on housing, affordability, and public services earned the parliament the name of the “do nothing Dáil” as the government blocked Sinn Féin and opposition parties’ proposals. This stasis is unsustainable and undermines confidence in the political institutions.
There is an onus on the opposition parties to work together to demonstrate that another way is possible. An alternative exists to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, parties that have governed the state for over one hundred years, and now represent a minority.
These are parties that have run out of ideas and refuse to recognise the changes around them in Ireland, on Irish Unity or in a geopolitical context.
At times, Irish Government ministers look like rabbits caught in the deadlights as the international rules-based order lies in tatters not only due to the actions of Russia in Ukraine and Israel in Gaza, but also the response of Western leaders to these challenges.
The domestic agenda in Ireland and across Europe has been dominated by international actions such as protests in Iran, the US approach to Venezuela and the threats to annex Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark which is part of NATO and sits on the UN Security Council.
How the world responds is uncertain, but change is on the way; it cannot be denied, and the clock cannot be turned back.
It seems to quote, Sean O’Casey, “The whole world is in a state of chassis”
The first rule of managing change is to acknowledge that things are changing. We have many challenges to meet to ensure that the world that emerges is better for all.
Have a great weekend,
