WHAT has happened to the great fighting Irish spirit that this nation
is famous for, and proud of?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to stir up civil unrest like
we’ve seen on the streets of Athens.
But at the same time, it is extraordinary that while Government turns
the screw at the behest of bailout bankers and Eurocrats, the vast
majority of us suffer in apparent silence.
The loudest voices raised are on bar high stools and around the water
cooler in the office...or even on the blower to Joe Duffy.
The raft of Budget austerity measures that are only now being felt are
a plague on our houses and it is within the walls of our homes that
most of the loudest groans are heard.
The last major show of people power was in 2008 when a heaving grey
brigade at the gates of the Dail left the Fianna Fail-led Coalition
with a bloody nose and had medical cards for over-70s returned.
A few mass demos since have achieved little, especially as some of
them, most notably a student protest, were hijacked by opportunist
trouble-makers who undermined the cause.
When TDs returned to the Dail after their Christmas break, they could
have expected to be confronted with another outing by our elderly
citizens over the crass tax demands on pensioners.
Lo and behold, it couldn’t have been any more different than anticipated.
The Kildare Street gates were surrounded by a screeching crowd of
placard waving school-kids, some as young as four or five.
Sheparded by their teachers and parents, the bellowing youngsters put
a nearby protest by rightly disgruntled Priory Hall residents in the
shade.
And across the road in the sheltered confines of Buswells Hotel,
anti-household charge activists were stepping up their campaign of
non-payment.
The boisterous but well-behaved children showed their elders how it
should be done.
Granted, there was a groundswell building up over chopping teacher
numbers at disadvantaged schools even within the corridors of power.
Minister Pat Rabbitte led a delegation into the office of his party
colleague, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, demanding a rethink while
welfare groups issued missives left right and centre about the folly
of the move.
Mr Quinn finally relented, admitting he made a mistake and was staging
a feverish u turn in the Dail chamber even as his name was being
chanted in high pitched childish tones outside.
It wasn’t the size of the children’s demonstration – they numbered
only 150 or so - but its emotive effect that caught the eye.
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny himself buckled on axing disability payments
for teenagers when he realized it was a step too far.
But what is it that cows down the masses who feel hard done by, and
dissuades them from a public display of discontent?
A leading expert in behaviour reckons it has something to do with
geography, suggesting that living in a temperate climate could explain
why we aren’t banging on the doors of parliament.
"In our culture, anger is one of the passions to be kept to oneself,”
claims psychologist Bryan Roche.
“We may admit to experiencing it, but generally must not show it,”
adds the prof from NUI Maynooth.
His studies include the psychology of rioting and community spirit and
he reckons our culture dictates that anger is a passion that has to be
kept bottled up.
In a curious observation he points out: “This is less prevalent in
red-blooded Mediterranean cultures, such as Greece."
This will be good news for our political masters as they plot the next
round of economic hardship.
Their greatest fear on the road to recover however will be staying a
step ahead of global warming.
ENDS
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