It"s not only bankers who have questions to answer

You have to hand it to Fianna Fáil and the now defunct Progressive Democrats. They"ve managed to convince us all that the recession is the fault of a handful of bankers and developers. The very party who loudly claimed credit for the boom and disregarded the role of the Rainbow Coalition have now washed their hands of the recession. They can"t have it both ways. If their policies were responsible for creating the Celtic Tiger in all its unsustainable and now tragic glory, then these very same policies were instrumental too in its downfall. The electorate held Fianna Fáil partially responsible for in opinion polls after the extent of our travails became apparent late last year. Since then and since Sean Fitzpatrick and his cronies became the fall guys, Fianna Fáil have recovered. They have played a clever game of finger-pointing at the banking sector. The lack of regulation in banks was the result of the policies pursued by the FF/PD coalition over the last twelve years. The ability of the rich to shelter their incomes from taxes, the astronomical and lucrative benefits built up by politicians, the ridicolously inflated property boom, the mushrooming of massive quangos at ludicrous costs, the development of the untouchables in the private sector, the public sector privileges and benchmarking, the greed is good philosophy ... in short all that is wrong in modern Ireland can arguably be traced back to the policies followed and cultivated by Fianna Fáil and the PDs. The ideological twins of Mary Harney and Charlie McCreevy - along with the procrastinating Bertie Ahern - should not be allowed forget their role in this debacle. Now, the Government wants to make us pay for its errors. It is targeting some of the most vulnerable in society in its slash-and-burn approach to the public finances. The developers, their allies in the Galway Races tents, the speculators and the financial whizzkids, who have been exposed as having no clothes ... these people have not been hit to the same extent. The public should not allow itself to be persuaded that a few rotten apples in our financial and banking sectors are solely to blame for the economic mess and the subsequent cutbacks. Our anger should not solely be directed at the financial sector. The public should ask questions of its Oireachtas politicians, of all parties. Here"s some for starters: Where were you when all this happened? Did you turn a blind eye to the excesses, the lack of regulation, the failure of Government? And most importantly, are you now going to stand up for the rights of people to maintain a decent standard of living? It"s not only bankers that have questions to answer.