Four things that haven’t changed since the crash

Four things that haven’t changed since the crash: "We learn from our mistakes – or do we? As Ireland finally emerges from a disastrous recession, a question floats back to the surface: would we do it all again? Have the consequences of bad governance and poor collective choices been so painful that we won’t ever go back there? Even cows learn to avoid electric fences – has Irish society as much sense as a cow?
If you were to judge by immediate appearances the answer would be an emphatic no. The leaflets from estate agents are coming in the door again. The queues to put down deposits on half- finished houses are forming again. The almost entirely unchallenged assumption that rising property prices are an index of a healthy economy is rampant again. Loose talk about tax cuts is in the air again. Even though the national debt is now five times higher than it was at the start of so-called austerity, there is a widespread feeling that everything is returning to a pre-crash “normality”.
Significant improvements
Some things have changed. Financial regulation is much tougher and more active. A whistle-blowing culture may be taking root – it matters greatly that attempts to silence and discredit gardaí who spoke up about apparent abuses failed. For the moment at least, senior politicians and administrators will think twice before shooting the messengers of malpractice. "



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