11 December 1997 Edition
Headless tiger stalks Charlie's circus
By Meadbh Gallagher
`They seek him here, they seek him there, Le Tigre Vert'. Pardon my French, but that is what the elusive Celtic Tiger is called in the Paris papers.
You might be sick to death of hearing about him, but he is having a good run of it across Europe. And like all great Irish myths and legends, this one's set to run and run.
Last week's Great Giveaway Show south of the border hosted by Charlie McCreevy added to the myth-building.
Charlie's media friends now call him Buttons because he kept such a tight lip on things before Budget day. I'd call him Buttons because that's all he gave to half the population. All he did was feed the tiger.
Yet the media pundits fell over themselves to cheer on the circus. Amidst the din, the voices of the official left sounded subdued and peeved that they weren't there to do the same themselves.
A freshly recruited cheerleader was Moore McDowell, an economics lecturer who fronts the Adam Smith Institute in Ireland. He was brought on to award nine and a half marks out of ten to Charlie for ``a set of changes of which Mrs Thatcher would approve''.
Indeed. That large parts of England and most of Scotland and Wales were devastated by Thatcher's rampage doesn't matter. It seems we are to be forced to relive in Ireland the feeding frenzy for the few that left a third of Britain's population wasted.
McDowell also gave McCreevy an A ``for standing up to the do-gooders''. In Thatcher's years, the charities were patronised on to their knees while her bootboys beat the people they served senseless with the message to stop griping and get on their bikes. It was easy.
That's why it's bad when it's left to the do-gooders to carry the voice of opposition. Yet the two-thirds/one-third society that Britain ended up with is exactly where the 26 county economy is heading. And it was largely left to the do-gooders to point this out.
It was the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), the St Vincent de Paul and Sister Stan of Focus Point who came out most strongly against McCreevy's pickings.
Charlie's tax cuts will be of no benefit to almost 40% of the population. The percentage of net government social welfare payments has actually decreased in recent years even though the number of social welfare recipients has increased.
Contrary to popular belief, the highest earners in Ireland pay less tax than virtually anywhere else in Europe. And while Charlie made them pay even less, Vincent de Paul announced it would have to help at least 80,000 people in Dublin alone this Christmas.
But little facts like that have not been allowed to get in the way of the booming myth.
We all knew the emperor had no clothes when he paraded himself about the place, but are we really now being asked to believe we're seeing a tiger? Have you seen one in Donegal, in Cavan, in Kerry - never mind beyond the shopping mall of Donegall Street?
The only tiger I've seen prancing around these parts was a headless one. Headless. A piece of striped cloth blowing about the pace full of hot air. Some day it will burst and make a good cheap rug for the multinationals to walk all over.
`They seek him here, they seek him there, Le Tigre Vert'. Pardon my French, but that is what the elusive Celtic Tiger is called in the Paris papers.
You might be sick to death of hearing about him, but he is having a good run of it across Europe. And like all great Irish myths and legends, this one's set to run and run.
Last week's Great Giveaway Show south of the border hosted by Charlie McCreevy added to the myth-building.
Charlie's media friends now call him Buttons because he kept such a tight lip on things before Budget day. I'd call him Buttons because that's all he gave to half the population. All he did was feed the tiger.
Yet the media pundits fell over themselves to cheer on the circus. Amidst the din, the voices of the official left sounded subdued and peeved that they weren't there to do the same themselves.
A freshly recruited cheerleader was Moore McDowell, an economics lecturer who fronts the Adam Smith Institute in Ireland. He was brought on to award nine and a half marks out of ten to Charlie for ``a set of changes of which Mrs Thatcher would approve''.
Indeed. That large parts of England and most of Scotland and Wales were devastated by Thatcher's rampage doesn't matter. It seems we are to be forced to relive in Ireland the feeding frenzy for the few that left a third of Britain's population wasted.
McDowell also gave McCreevy an A ``for standing up to the do-gooders''. In Thatcher's years, the charities were patronised on to their knees while her bootboys beat the people they served senseless with the message to stop griping and get on their bikes. It was easy.
That's why it's bad when it's left to the do-gooders to carry the voice of opposition. Yet the two-thirds/one-third society that Britain ended up with is exactly where the 26 county economy is heading. And it was largely left to the do-gooders to point this out.
It was the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), the St Vincent de Paul and Sister Stan of Focus Point who came out most strongly against McCreevy's pickings.
Charlie's tax cuts will be of no benefit to almost 40% of the population. The percentage of net government social welfare payments has actually decreased in recent years even though the number of social welfare recipients has increased.
Contrary to popular belief, the highest earners in Ireland pay less tax than virtually anywhere else in Europe. And while Charlie made them pay even less, Vincent de Paul announced it would have to help at least 80,000 people in Dublin alone this Christmas.
But little facts like that have not been allowed to get in the way of the booming myth.
We all knew the emperor had no clothes when he paraded himself about the place, but are we really now being asked to believe we're seeing a tiger? Have you seen one in Donegal, in Cavan, in Kerry - never mind beyond the shopping mall of Donegall Street?
The only tiger I've seen prancing around these parts was a headless one. Headless. A piece of striped cloth blowing about the pace full of hot air. Some day it will burst and make a good cheap rug for the multinationals to walk all over.