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    Michael McDowell: Irland war in den 1980er Jahren rückständig, arm und stagnierte. Einige Politiker wollen uns dorthin zurückbringen


    Michael McDowell: Irland war in den 1980er Jahren rückständig, arm und stagnierte. Einige Politiker wollen uns dorthin zurückbringen

    https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/01/01/ireland-in-the-1980s-was-backward-poor-and-stagnant-some-politicians-want-to-bring-us-back-there/

    Von Ill-Age-601

    View 21 Comments

    21 Comments

    1. Ill-Age-601 on

      Op Opinion:

      This is totally incorrect from McDowell. In his eyes a few creaming in wealth from “competition” outweighs a well paid workforce with security, not to mention housing

      Here’s hoping we return to the “statist” system and leave “liberal” economics in the dustbin of history

    2. muttonwow on

      Oh he means *economically* backward, not culturally backward because that’s what he wants.

    3. mrlinkwii on

      idk what point he wasnt to make , is he saying that ” state run company bad” because privatisation of some services has been very bad for teh public ( see bin collection as a prime example ) also the level of state run stuff will never happen again per EU rules .

      some sectors of the ecomony where privatized when they shouldnt of had and others its has been a good thing

    4. FeistyPromise6576 on

      McDowell isn’t someone I usually agree with but he’s dead right in this case

    5. Stringr55 on

      No politician wants to go back to the 80s. And the article barely even says this. “Here’s a series of facts about how things were 40 years ago. Young people who were not born wont remember.” Yeah, obviously Michael.

    6. davesr25 on

      Folk would like somewhere to live, with a bit of security.

      It’s not to much to ask, so moan away.

      I’d assume the person writing this has a safe and secure dwelling.

    7. Otherwise-Winner9643 on

      Ah, it’s the “dead money” lad back again, with another profile. He is obsessed with a comment his sister made once and has made it his raison d’etre.

      He has been given loads of advice about dealing with his mental health, so save your breath people.

    8. GlorEUW on

      in general i agree, but putting the deregulation of airlines and radio in the same catagory as electricity and postage seems a bit of a reach.

      critical public goods should be run for the benefit of the public. Even tho the privitisation of telecoms has probably been good on balance, without massive government funding we wouldnt have the quality of broadband we have today, since it was not comercially viable for any company to lay all that fibre broadband.

      also werent a lot of the improvements to the roads from eu and government money, not from private financing?

    9. sureyouknowurself on

      I would say the value of your income back then went a lot further than it does today.

      Inflation is insane.

    10. Resident_Rate1807 on

      It’s laughable these lads think the 80’s were the time to be. Let’s ignore the truth about high unemployment. Crazy interest rates and low wages. The 90’s in my opinion was where Ireland turned a corner. Having lived thru it all I honestly can’t believe people think that the 80s were the good old days. The reality is the 80’s were bleak…

    11. No-Outside6067 on

      Kinda ironic he mentions Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann as one of state companies that benefited from privatization. It ran at a loss through the 80s and was privatized in the early 90s once it became profitable.

      It changed name to Greencore. One of it’s earliest CEO’s was David Dilger who transferred from the semi-state DAA. He was replaced by Patrick Coveney of the political dynasty and then by Dalton Philips who transferred from the semi-state DAA.

      For all intents and purposes it was still ran as a politically controlled body, just the profits went to private shareholders instead of the state.

    13. 755879 on

      I would never believe a me who hasn’t been hungry a day in his life

    14. under-secretary4war on

      This is classic 50-50. Somethings were better by being less open to market stuff. And property was predicated on one lower salary (mainly) But in every class in school there were lads whose dads were laid off and families that really struggled. There was no dignity for many (and that’s not even getting into the social aspects – lgbt, church etc).

    15. pablo8itall on

      When I grew up in the 70s/80s I had to run from the bath room through the house to the fire to dry. The house was freezing, no heating.

      My dad was a fitter and eventually replaced the back of the fie with a system that at least gave us hot water for the bath heated from the fire.

      The jax was out the back as well. fucking awful in winter.

      I concerned us lucky too as we got a decent amount of grub every day, plenty of kids were hungry.

      And you didnt get a room to yourself, most places had two bedrooms, maybe three and with the size of the families back then thats a room for boys and a room for girls.

      A house standards now are a million miles ahead of the old days.

    16. Ok-Rent259 on

      Without reading the article, McDowell will blame left wing politics for trying to make the country regressive in some wild mental gymnastics.

    17. qwerty_1965 on

      In the 80s it took months to get a phone connection. Now you go out and buy a phone and connect it in minutes.

      We’ve never had it so good for ease of everything except one BIG thing.

    18. Ill-Age-601 on

      I challenge anyone here to tell me how renting or living at home in 2025 is a better life than owning a home in the 80s

      Tell me what society thinks of renters and their place within it. Explain to me why we call people dead money if renting is totally socially acceptable. Dead to housing is what the term illegitimate used to be for children

    19. Spartak_Gavvygavgav on

      Yes, yes, Michael, the 80s were grim in many ways.

      2025 is grim in many ways too.

    20. Additional_Olive3318 on

      That’s a big right wing rant from McDowell. What he doesn’t mention is that the State owned all this stuff because private capital didn’t want to get involved. Without Aer Lingus there would be minor very few flights into Ireland. We didn’t nationalise an existing airline – we created one. Same with a lot of what he is complaining about. The ESB owned the electricity supply because they built it out. 

      Anyway whatever works works. The sell off and deregulation of some of this worked, and some didn’t. 

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