Been in Ireland at the moment, is a little strange. We have a Prime Minister who does not want to step down, even though rest of the country would like it. We have been bailed out by the IMF/EU due to problems caused by our banks, and to a certain degree each and every Irish person who thought the good times would last for ever, and kept taking the money the banks were giving out. It was not uncommon during the boom times to hear stories of people who went in looking for a mortgage for one value and the bank to go, sure we will give you and extra few 10 of thousands. I remember when I first bought a house just before the big boom started and it was 3.5 times your salary. This started been increased rapidly, along with overtime, bonus and share holdings all been taken into account so that the bank could give bigger mortgages. People took out loans from Credit unions to come up with the deposition on a 100% mortgage. The whole idea of looking after money was gone. Salaries shot up trying to match the high living standard we now had, and people like me, out of Uni in their early 20′s at the turn of the Century had it all, jobs, work, travel, more liberal Ireland.
Now a few years on, 2011 looks a different Ireland, we no longer are the big spenders, more the careful, looking after our money, looking for value and now demanding things are done. While a lot of people still talk of doom and gloom, there is no doubt Ireland is in a much better place than the early 1990′s. One of the things that I guess really brought it all home to me was my year away working overseas. When you see the true horror of war and violence and the pain and suffering it leaves on families, it does in some way have an effect on the view you have. It would be great if this is the year following on from the last 2 years of doom and gloom, that Irish people do take that look inside themselves and start to push forward again. Look at the hope that is out there, try and do something for oneself, rather than expecting others to solve the problems. We need to start to knuckle down, and build on our success again, learn the lessons, put in places laws that help prevent such recklessness and at the same time change old laws that do belong in the past, remove them once and for all. I can think of no better time to do a full route and branch reform of Ireland as now. Time will tell.
