You read a lot in Ireland about the lack of opportunities for people. Every time you open the newspapers, you will read of how people are losing hope, how the future is bleak and how they find it hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. It can come in a variety of forms, such as unemployment, but it can also happen to people who ARE in employment. It may be caused by substance abuse or alcohol or by one of the biggest crises’ to face Ireland in recent years, mental health.
Personally, I believe that many of our current problems in Ireland were caused by the so called good times that we enjoyed at the early part of this century. Many people lost the run of themselves during those times and will count the cost for a long time to come. I refuse to call it an “economic boom” because it wasn’t. It was lunacy, driven by power obsessed people, continuously telling us that all was great. It was nonsense, where Irish people were judged by the registration number of their car or how big their house was.
I can distinctly remember walking through the Whitewater Shopping centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare, back in 2006. A young saleslady approached me in her highest heels, wearing the shortest skirt and the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. Before I had time to think, she launched into her sales talk about whether or not I fancied buying an apartment in some part of Eastern Europe. I will always remember my answer to her “I’ll try to pay for the house I have here in Ireland first”. She looked at me in disgust, like I was a weirdo and if there had ever been the slightest chance of the two of us eloping together; they were well and truly scuppered. This was the lunacy and the madness that went rampant in Ireland
As Irish people, we became something we never were, we became snobs and a class system was formed. It gave rise to the working “class”, the middle “class” and of course, the upper “class”. Watch any news programme and at some stage, a reporter will speak of somebody as coming from a particular class of area. Personally, I find it disgusting and as an Irish person, it has never settled well with me.
Many people were left behind, as Irish people clamoured to borrow more money, to be better than their neighbour, or incredibly, to gamble on such madness as the stock market. The reverberations of the lunacy will be felt for generations to come and it will be spoken about in schools and colleges of the future. Books will be written about the subject.
Mortgages, one of the biggest financial undertakings any person can make, went from the normal 20 or 25 years, to a ridiculous 35 or even 40 years. Parents went as guarantor for their children, in an effort to get a roof over their heads. People that worked hard their entire lives to create some sort of life for themselves were back to square one again. There are couples today, who will retire “before” their mortgage is paid off.
However, the lunacy came to an abrupt end and despite our leaders assuring us of a soft landing, the carnage and the fall out was substantial. The same newspapers, which had previously run a property supplement on Thursday’s, now ran a supplement on how to cope with financial stress and the address and telephone numbers for your local MABS office.
People who were lucky enough to hold onto their jobs faced a much different future, as previous terms, conditions and perks were changed. Some companies began a consultation and negotiation process, others took a “take it or leave it” approach and while people still had their pay packets on a Thursday evening, the job that they were lucky to have, quickly became a shadow of its former self. One commentator made a very good comment on the radio one day when he said that “a lot of companies are afraid to waste a good recession”.
In the words of Bruce Springsteen, “Bad times on Wall Street mean hard times on main street”
I worked for a company for well over half my life. Over generations, some of the best terms and conditions anywhere in the country were negotiated between management and unions. It would have been regarded as one of the best companies in the country to work for, thanks to hard negotiations over those generations. Fire and brimstone would have been the best way to describe those talks, with both sides claiming victory. Everything from a week’s bonus at Christmas, summer placements for college students, a company doctor and acceptable pay increases, gave employees a sense of achievement and something to aim for. The company benefited too, with much higher productivity, good staff morale and very low staff turnover. It was a bloody good company to work for and we had great times there. Many local families were glad to see it going from strength to strength and the company was considered one of the best in town to work for. “If you get in there, you’re made for life” was the feeling throughout the area. The company was regularly making profits of +€100 million.
I returned a few years later, albeit for a very short time, to help out through a transitional period. I was stunned to see that practically every single one of those terms and conditions had been given away, with the gun being put to people’s heads. The company has consistently pleaded poverty, but profits have rarely fallen below €100 million in any year. Last year, the company still posted profits of €95.4 million, despite issues like Brexit and some poor business decisions. The people in the boardroom make decisions, the people in the staffroom suffer the consequences. I would describe morale as under the floor somewhere. The place that I once felt pride in was long gone and it was a shadow of what it once was. I thought of management and staff, people much better than me, who had created a fine, vibrant, successful company and it had come to this. For me, I thought I’d never got out of the bloody place. I learned a valuable lesson however, always go forwards, NEVER go backwards.
Foreign companies have come into Ireland, bringing with them a new way of doing things. Zero hour contracts, low wages, irregular hours and an insistence that the job comes secondary to people’s families and their welfare have become the new norm. Simple things like arranging time off to be with your children or to support them at their school concert, have become something to bargain for. Getting that few hours off, will be used against you at a later stage, an example being “we granted you the time off to attend a parent teacher meeting last month, so you owe us”.
We have become a country obsessed with giving our all to the company. Employers hold all the cards and they are not afraid to play them. Having a job is nearly seen as something you should get down on your knees and thank people for. The very fabric of a person’s existence seems to be based on their job.
Me, I don’t think it should be that way. I believe that a proper job should fit nicely side by side with a person’s private life. I believe that a job should come secondary to family, in particular children and while I believe that a person has a duty to work hard and do their best, a balance needs to be formed.
This balance can be formed, but a person needs to hold more of the aces, make themselves more employable, up-skill themselves and make themselves a person that an employer will “want” to keep, not somebody to be used at their every whim.
In two weeks time, I will finish up on what I consider one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I am now empowered with a lot of knowledge, I’m much more employable, I have enjoyed working in a radio station which I loved every microsecond of, I have made some great friends and I will hold a major qualification, which is no mean feat for a person my age.
In part 2, during the week, I’ll take a look at what I think are some of the options available to people, to better themselves, just as I have done and put the cards firmly back in their own hands, where they should be,
The Unknown Bike Rider 