Sir, – Charlie Creggan (Letters, December 15th) is entirely right to draw attention to the increased spending commitments of the Government under Fine Gael leadership.
He is somewhat awry in concluding that this absolves it of “neoliberalism” and does not accurately describe its political position.
Neoliberalism is often mistaken as a movement which intends to liberate markets on the assumption that they can self-regulate.
This misunderstanding then leads people to assume that neoliberal governments will oversee shrinking budgets and reduced state influence.
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But as historians of the movement have shown repeatedly, most convincingly in the work of Quinn Slobodian, neoliberal politicians do not seek to liberate the market but to “encase” it. They use the power of the state – including the spending power – to insulate market activity from democratic interference.
As any Fine Gael councillor with a Twitter account will tell you, the party has massively increased spending on housing. What they do not proclaim is that the bulk of that increase has been in the form of Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which functions as a subsidy from the State to protect the interests (and market-share) of private and institutional landlords.
When citizens like Una Mullally (Opinion & Analysis, December 13th) suggest that the State should intervene in the housing crisis to remedy the distorted market, a chorus of neoliberal authorities can be then called upon to denounce such views as ideological and thus protect the status quo. The range of possible political actions are reduced as the range of possible profit potentials are increased.
This is real, existing neoliberalism in action and Una Mullally is entirely correct to attribute such policies to Fine Gael. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN HARGADEN,
Director,
Jesuit Centre
for Faith and Justice,
Dublin 1,
A chara, – Charlie Creggan is broadly correct in the figures put forward and the increase in State spending since Fine Gael took power.
However, he is incorrect in stating that this means that Fine Gael (or the State itself) is not neoliberal.
The key identifier of a neoliberal system is not the size of state expenditure. Rather, it is that a state is structured to ensure that capital is given free access to all parts of the economy and economic resources (state services, labour and environment) without restriction or regulation in a misguided search for efficiency through profit motive – without regard to cost, social equality or human life.
That this is extremely expensive for ordinary working families (who pay for the state), and extremely profitable for some (who for the most part do not), should come as no surprise.
The socialisation of capitalist costs and losses is part of the plan. – Is mise,
EOGHAN MacMATHÚNA,
Dublin 6.