And then two weeks went by…

Last night I ended up in a two hour long discussion about the impending doom of it all, and how none of us can really afford to flippantly quit jobs on the grounds that it’s not perfect and there’ll be another one around the corner. This is prompted by multiple friends who are currently making that exact plan, and multiple others (mainly of the generation who have seen a recession first-hand) gently suggesting that they re-attach their booties to reality for a bit.

The point? Maybe there wasn’t one. Even the government is admitting that the economy is getting a bit slower. I’m not yet convinced that it will be a ‘proper’ recession, but I am convinced that whatever correction (that’s the buzzword, isn’t it?) occurs will be difficult for a generation who, for the most part, have grown up with everything they wanted, and have never gotten around to developing coping skills for when things go wrong. It makes me wonder how those who never got to ‘have it all’ in the first place will be treated and/or cope. It also makes me deeply suspicious of the government.

Is it just me, or are they all suddenly using a lack of cash as the best new excuse for their consistent mismanagement of every possible area of public service?

Last year we had six solid months of ‘there’s no recession coming, that’s crazy talk’, then they got re-elected, then they made a few more messes, then yer man resigned and now in his last week he finds the cojones to admit that the health and education systems in this country are circling the proverbial drain. It counts as news only because of the admission. Nobody in this country needs to read the latest report from the OECD, because we’ve been living that particular dream for years.

Apparently there is no more money for mental health services. And there is no more money for suicide prevention. And, in fact, according to some people, things are just fine as they are.

Look at the papers. Look at the front page of every paper in the country (try to ignore the utterly counter-productive tone of many of the headlines) in the last four days and then tell me that things are just fine as they are.

There is no money for mental health services. But the taoiseach is urging his successor to buy a new government jet. It’s like a very, very bad joke - one that is actively going horribly, horribly wrong.