A Watershed Moment

There is little doubt that the budget due in December will be of vital importance in terms of Irish economic development. Simply put if we get it right we can look forward to a prosperous future – get it wrong and we could suffer for decades to come.

Before we get too maudlin it is worth looking at the last great financial crisis in Irish history – the currency crisis and how it was viewed by one of Ireland’s leading economists. The following are  extracts from 12 defining moments in Irish history from the Sunday Business Post of December, 2006:

“The day credit liberated ordinary Irish people, David McWilliams
For many, January 31, 1993 is significant. It was the day the punt devalued, interest rates started to fall and the banks started to lend. It was the beginning of the process where the banks did what the credit unions had been doing for years - they started to lend to ordinary people. This greater and more democratic access to credit has done more to liberate millions of ordinary Irish people than any political move by any government in any decade since the foundation of the state. When you have credit, economic possibilities abound, social mobility becomes the norm and the aspirations and dreams of millions are achievable.

…. But quite apart from the economic impacts, the psychological effect of moving from a country where credit was rationed to a country where credit is freely available cannot be underestimated. The most liberating development in post-independenceIreland has been the emergence of credit. This credit has washed over us like a liberating, democratic soothing balm. It has eased the deep neurotic pain of being economically second rate and healed us of the great Irish affliction whereby we can only be financially successful when we are in New York, Sydney or Boston. 

Credit has harnessed our energies for the first time ever, at home. This development, more than anything else, changed Ireland and ushered in the new Ireland.January 31,1993, was the day old Ireland died."

Let us hope for all our sakes that December 7^th 2010 is the date Ireland is reborn.