I’m a placid peaceful bloke, in case you hadn’t noticed.
However….
If I were forty or fifty years younger I would be in there chucking petrol bombs or worse.
My contempt for politicians is at an all time low and sinking by the day.
There is a housing crisis here. House prices and rents are through the roof. Interest rates are constantly rising and evictions are a daily occurrence. The gubmint did introduce a moratorium on evictions during the Virus but they were very quick to remove it again so now we have in excess of 10,000 homeless with hundreds living on the streets. The gubmint does fuck all except mutter about how they built a few houses and give promises of thousands to be built in the future. Everything is going to be solved in the future.
Banks have announced massive profits running into hundreds of millions.
In spite of the housing crisis they keep welcoming in refugees. Fair enough but they somehow seem to be sorted while the existing homeless grows. There is a rapidly growing anti-immigration movement and the gubmint is surprised?
Utility prices have soared this year, in particular electricity. An expression which is frequently used is the choice of “heat or eat”. Food banks are doing a roaring trade and charities are swamped. People literally are going without food in order to keep up with electricity bills.
The ESB [Electricity Supply Board] announces profits running into the hundreds of millions.
The political system here is broken. There is basically just one party here – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Both are identical and if it looks like one or the other is going to lose then they just coalesce. They are obviously pro-big business and the latter seems to get all the tax breaks.
I could go on.
Now they seem surprised that there is a growing anger. Councillors are being given a €2,500 allowance [tax payers’ money of course] for home security. There is a growing number of demonstrations. People are reaching breaking point.
More power to ’em, I say. .
Addendum….
I have just heard on the radio that the protesters [according to a TD] were “Far Right” [of course – blame everything on Far Right because it sounds good]. “Racists”, “Xenophobes”, “Conspiracy Theorists” [?], and “Fascists”. Obviously no room then for the ordinary people who are just pissed off with the way the country is being run?