Rip off Republic? Dodgy democracy??

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Tuesday August 09, 2005 02:41 by Steady

New series on RTE1 TV

Eddie Hobbs presented the first in a series about what a rip off Ireland is and why and what can be done about it.

I sat in front of the tv this evening amazed that this kind of "incitement-to-revolution" material has managed to get onto the state broadcaster! Eddie ripped apart the Celtic Tiger myth and the low-tax-economy myth too.

He pointed out how monopolies and cartels have been running the show ever since our bourgeois revolution in 1916.

He noted how the 10 major landowners in Ireland have managed their monopoly on land and how all the other players like the legal system, estate agents and our government all gourge themselves at the property trough while you and me foot the bill. Even local councils are getting in on the act and charging anything from 2800 euro to 16,000 euro for a house levy.

He noted that there was one cement company in Ireland up until 2000 and now there are only 3. A ton of cement in Germany is 45 euro and here its 80.

He also mentioned stealth taxes like the bin tax and showed horrific video footage of a bin tax protester hanging onto the front of a lorry while trying to block it. The lorry driver, who I hope is serving time in jail and will never be allowed to drive again, kept driving even though he knew there were people in front of his vehicule. He drove out onto the main road and went down the road at full speed with the man hanging onto the front of his lorry. The man eventually fell off and the lorry kept going.

I hope this lunatic was jailed??!! Anyone know??

He noted that the Groceries Act prevents supermarkets passing on the savings to customers that they get from doing deals with their suppliers. This was supposed to protect the smaller shops in Ireland but the reality is that those small shops are now frachised branches of Spar, Centra or Londis. This is one of the reasons that a basket of goods in Ireland is 20% more expensive than in Europe.

So even something like nappies are prevented from dropping in price as they make up part of these groceries

Having said that Im not sure if allowing massive supermarkets like Lidl to open up all over the place is the way to go. I would prefer to see preference/encouragement given to local farmers selling to local people. The low quality of food due to price cuts and its affect on health wasnt mentioned so Eddie was a bit simplistic in that respect on food pricing.

I kept thinking to myself through the program "I know all this, I know its shit, they are all doing it and I have no choice! So what can be done about it? emigrate?"

By the end I felt what Eddie was really getting at was that our government and the large companies who control it, through lobby groups and bribes, are not being held accountable by the people. We are letting them get away with murder and corruption and are too busy working or shopping, too tired or too ignorant to monitor them and hold them accountable.

Its just not enough to go and vote once every 4 years and think you are living in a democracy - we have to finds ways to involve people activly throughout those 4 years. Perhaps have a few paid days of participation ? Like jury duty but employers would pay for it and get a tax rebate from the govt so as to allow busy people to take time out to participate in this so called democracy?

The series is being screened at 9.30 on monday evenings on RTE1 TV