Last night was a huge night here in Dublin — for the city, but also for the country. It was Election Night, which comes once every five years.
The party in power up until today is largely accredited for getting Ireland into the messy situation it’s in today. In a pattern similar to the U.S., after a huge economic boom in the mid-1990s, Ireland’s economy tanked last year.
But it wasn’t just a few investment firms and the slowdown of the real estate market that left the people in a tough situation — it left the nation searching its pockets for
spare change.
Instead of getting a government bailout, it took the EU, International Monetary Fund and 80 billion euro to save the country’s finances.
The bailout came at a huge cost to the people, too. In the States, most of us have been relatively lucky – most middle and upper-middle class aren’t feeling any direct results from the government bank bailout from day to day. We got our money from other countries, and we’ll pay it back, eventually.
It’s different in Ireland. The government quickly instituted a “social tax” after the bailout. It sounds like it’s to help raise money for hospitals or public schools. Instead, it’s to help pay back the loans.
Its effect on the people? Huge.
My Irish Cultures professor, arguably middle to upper-middle class, is paying 200
euro each month out of his paycheck. That translates into about seven euro, or $10, each day. His savings now lack $280 each month.
That’s significant. For him, it means he and his wife aren’t taking a holiday this year.
For others, it’s suddenly become harder to put food on the table or to pay their rent.
Everyone is taking a hit.
For some, the situation is too difficult: 1,000 Irish people are leaving their country each [week][http://www.globalvisas.com/news/1_000_irish_immigrate_each_week2872.html]. They’re forced to go because of layoffs and because there are no jobs for graduating students.
When asked if they were planning on leaving the country after university, more than three-quarters of the Irish students in one of my classes raised their hands.
Needless to say, people are angry here. They’re angry at the economy, their pride hurt that it has effectually collapsed after a boom still fresh in people’s minds.
But they’re also angry at the government that brought them to this point. Five years ago, when times were good, they elected Brian Cowen of the Fianna Fáil party to lead the country. The party has been in power for most of Ireland’s short history, and much like the Republican party in the U.S., its members are typically elected when times are good.
But times are bad now, and the public blames Fianna Fáil for what’s happened. Two of my professors can’t speak the party’s name without tossing in a “fecking” on one side or the other.
The discontent is apparent in the streets, where for the past week there’s been an odd feeling of tension — I never believed public sentiment could, quite literally, exist, but you can feel it on gray days, walking past stores shuttered closed.
In the U.S., we have a polar attitude toward politics — our feelings and opinions are black and white. We are reactionary; the current political discontent in our country is leading to the rise of conservative, almost extremist movements, such as the Tea Party. If we turn left, we immediately veer right, sometimes overcorrecting in the process.
On the other hand, the Irish have every excuse – and, perhaps far better ones — to see a growth in extremist movements. I wouldn’t bat an eye if I saw a riot. But they are practical. They wait. They wait in a quiet anger, but they bide their time until change can be made effectively. And they have waited five years.
We could learn from that.
The election results coming in tonight are what follows after five years of watching an economy disintegrate around you. I watched them coming in at a pub (est. 1198) near the Liffey.
The final count of party seats:
-Sinn Féin, who tend to be a little radical, have five seats in parliament.
-Labour, whose views bend a little socialist at times, have 13.
-Fine Gael, the opposition and the one elected in times of trouble, have 20.
-Fianna Fáil had three seats.
The new government will be a coalition between Fine Gael and Labour, a victory for the working and middle classes, and a humiliating defeat for Fianna Fáil.
The pubs should be busy tonight.