Solidarity Forever - UNITY 09.05.2020 Vol.32 No.17

Page 4
Unity 9.5.20
Media Review
Old reliables could become
irrelevant
THERE are a lot of commentators
saying that after the present
crisis things will never be
the same. However that remains
to be seen.
In terms of Ireland, Patrick
Murphy, writing in the Irish
News, thinks that “the virus is
making old reliables irrelevant.
He writes that in times of crisis
Irish people have historically turned
to America abroad and the Catholic
Church at home for economic salvation
in this world and eternal happiness
in the next.
In recent years though the European
Union has joined Ireland’s holy
trinity of succour and support, “often
surpassing organised religion in offering
a new utopian interpretation
of heaven.”
However in the current crisis he
believes that through inactivity or
the wrong activity, the EU, the US
and the Church are drifting towards
a level of irrelevance which they
will find difficult to reverse.
He adds that the EU has gone
missing, America is a basket case
politically and economically and the
Church is apparently on retreat.
“Welcome to the new Ireland,
where the old reliables are not quite
as reliable as they used to be.”
He believes that coronavirus has
killed the EU’s political, economic
and monetary union because member
states reacted to the pandemic
individually breaking EU rules by
giving state aid to their own industries
and businesses.”
Instead of an EU-wide economic
recovery plan, each state must now
act alone and as there are different
levels of national debt that means
support for households and the unemployed
will vary.
As an example he states that it will
be high in France and Germany, low
in Italy and Spain.
He also makes the point that whilst
states can borrow through the European
Stability Mechanism to fund
their recovery the long-term debt incurred
will cause many countries,
probably including Ireland, to endure
economic depression and social
upheaval for years.
He refers to Leo Varadkar, “once
the darling of Brussels for opposing
Brexit,” complaining that the EU’s
response was “poor” and uncoordinated
and is ignoring his plea for a
unified economic recovery plan.
When nationalists argued that the
EU would stand by Varadkar for his
anti-Brexit stance, Murphy suggested
that the EU would ultimately
abandon Ireland in the interests of its
wealthy members.
He believes that is happening now,
stating that nationalist Ireland got it
wrong again and that Dublin media
commentators are remarkedly silent.
He then refers to the US which traditionally
has been the destination of
Irish economic migration and more
recently has been the major source
of investment.
However as he rightly states it was
ill-prepared for the virus.
He quotes statistics that show the
US has less beds per population than
Mongolia and Libya and that its economic
inequality is greater than Mali
and Yemen.
Things have got worse due to the
“madness" of Donald Trump who is
“unable to construct a coherent sentence.”
His failings, he adds, has turned
the US into an economic disaster
zone.
This could affect any future largescale
investment here and it goes
without saying that the US is not so
attractive now for anybody wishing
to migrate.
So if Ireland
can expect
little
m a t e r i a l
help from
the US or
the EU, who
will offer it
moral guidance
on the
Trump:failings
turned US into
economic disaster
zone
way ahead
he asks.
Traditionally this has been the
role of the Catholic Church but as
Murphy states, its teachings have
largely been aimed at preparations
for the next life, rather than handling
this one.
He writes that apart from advocating
the re-opening of cemeteries,
it has been largely silent on the
practical challenges presented by
the pandemic.
To this he adds, “if it is not relevant
in a crisis, it will not be relevant
afterwards.”
Apparently it has welcomed two
new prayers written by the Pope,
one of which seeks protection for
those risking their lives on the virus
frontline.
However it has not underpinned
these prayers by calling on governments
to ensure PPE is available
for all health workers.
He also makes the point that
when British Church leaders asked
government not to provide bailouts
to companies registered in tax havens
the Catholic Church was not
amongst the signatories.
He concludes that while we are
heading towards a new, post pandemic
Ireland, it is clear that unless
the old reliables reversed their drift
towards irrelevance Irish society
will seek new ones.
They could be better or worse.
Right now all we have is uncertainty.