Madam, – We have heard much from President McAleese and others recently about the evils of consumerism. One gets the impression we should be glad to be heading back to de Valera’s Ireland of frugal comforts.
In my memory, that was an Ireland satisfied to be third-best, or fifth-best, or even last. It was not an Ireland that produced Munster teams to win European Cups, or Pádraig Harringtons to beat the best in the world at major golf championships. No Irish novelists won Booker prizes in those days, and no Irish actors were nominated for Oscars. It was a country without a sense of, or aspiration to, excellence in any field.
It is true that the past five years have been disastrous. We let politicians, bankers and developers run a glorified Ponzi scheme on the housing market. Now that time is over and the failures have been laid bare, let us put it (and them) behind us. We need to get back to producing goods and services that people will pay for on the world market.
As an antidote to the views of President McAleese, I would offer to the Irish people the words of the singer Sophie Tucker: “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor – and, believe me, honey, rich is better”. – Yours, etc,