Snips or not, Limerick still needs action
WHAT a difference a year or so makes.
It is unlikely that any area in the country has been harder hit by the economic recession that our own and it stands to reason that the Mid-West is now at risk of suffering more pain than anywhere else as the drastic measures highlighted in the report by An Bord Snip Nua are considered by Government.
Amid anguish over the closure of Dell's manufacturing division a regional task force was set up, again made up of highly capable people (even that now seems like a very long time ago) and yet one of the recommendations of last week's McCarthy report is effectively amalgamating Shannon Development into the IDA. This would be clearly detrimental to the Mid-West at a time when the region desperately needs a sharply focused regional enterprise body. The mooted savings are comparatively minor and also very much open to question: this is one cost-saving proposal that should not be allowed to fly.
The same goes for the proposed measures which would have a devastating impact on low-income families, or the unemployed. And yet we cannot, of course, stick our heads in the sand and deny the apalling scale of the worst financial crisis in several generations. We must accept that deeply unpopular decisions must be made, some of them flagged up by An Bord Snip Nua.
Thanks to the criminally reckless behaviour of our banks and the abject failure of Fianna Fail-led Governments to react before it was far, far too late, this country is close to being bankrupt and sadly the ordinary citizen is going to bear the brunt for years to come. As the dole queues lengthen, the extraordinary sums required to bail out the banks will leave many of us in the Limerick region sick to our stomachs for years to come, as we watch our schools suffer the consequences, jobs disappearing, good businesses going bust and our general quality of life falling.
However reluctantly, the correct medicine must be swallowed, but while we will rally round the national cause here in the Mid-West we must also ensure that our region does not suffer disproportionately. We await the first report of the regional task force and we trust that its recommendations will be taken very seriously. After all, it was set up for a very good reason: because the hammer blows inflicted on the Limerick area demanded a serious and measured response. Reminder to Brian Cowen: that still stands, only more so.
Frank McCourt's legacy is secure >>>>Frank McCourt's legacy is secure
FRANK McCourt was a remarkable Limerickman whose books touched millions of people around the world and there was great sadness here this week as news of his death emerged. McCourt's relationship with Limerick was complex and late in his life he spoke of "unfinished business" with his native city.
Perhaps, though, he overstated this point, for there was persuasive evidence in recent years that he was comfortable and happy here, whenever he came back. Indeed, looking around the transformed city in wonderment, he told our reporter Anne Sheridan that he would have loved to have grown up in such a dynamic place. There were those who resented his most famous book, Angela's Ashes, for allegedly depicting Limerick in a poor light and for certain inaccuracies.
But the poverty McCourt wrote about was certainly not unique to Limerick in the Ireland of the Thirties and Forties and no less a judge than the late Jim Kemmy, perhaps uniquely qualified to offer a perspective on the quality and veracity of the book, was one of the author's biggest champions.
In telling his own story, in his own unique way, Frank McCourt made a considerable contribution to Limerick's literary and cultural life. His legacy is secure, both here and around the world.
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Monday 21 May 2012
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