George Lee is pictured following his address to the Marsh Society with Canon Patrick Comerford, who chaired the meeting‘No morals in the market’ former TD tells ordinands
In a punchy and at times hard-hitting speech, the former Fine Gael TD, George Lee, has challenged the emphasis on the economy as the main focus in the Republic of Ireland's present economic crisis and wondered about the place of values and people. He was addressing a recent meeting of the March Society, a student-led discussion group, in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute (CITI), Dublin.
The former journalist and broadcaster recently resigned as Fine Gael TD for Dublin South in controversial circumstances. At the time of his resignation, Mr Lee expressed his frustration at not having been given more involvement during his time as a Fine Gael TD in helping to shape the party’s economic policies. He told his CITI audience that “when you are pushed you realise what you believe in.”
As Economics Correspondent in RTÉ, where he had worked from 1992 until his election to the Dáil in the Dublin South by-election in May 2009, Mr Lee said he had watched the economic collapse and was “stunned that no-one saw it coming: it was so obvious.”
He continued: “We are the architects of our own economic misfortune … rapid economic growth that depended on the boom in the building industry and property speculation couldn’t go on for ever … it was not sustainable. Everyone was hell-bent on continuing the good times and nobody wanted to know about the consequences.”
He argued that “massive greed has broken the economy” [and there were] “no morals in the market … trust has gone because of greed.”
Mr Lee went on to speak of the social and human consequences of unemployment, and warned of the danger of permanent, long-term damage to young people, including changes in behaviour, the loss of self-esteem and the pain families go through. The permanent consequences included malnutrition, mental stress, lower life expectancy and greater risks.
“I believe this is the big issue,” he told the CITI meeting. While the government and bankers could sort themselves out, he wondered about the future for ordinary people.
“There is a huge price to pay,” the former TD added. he said that trust had broken down and reminded those present that “prosperity is all about trust; trust is the cornerstone of prosperity.”
He believed that politics ought to be about responsibility and not about power, adding that he no longer trusted political parties, the financial regulator, government departments or the Taoiseach, “but I do trust people.”
He said that, in recent years, the Irish economy “was about grab, grab, grab. Now we are grasping for survival … but no-one knows the way out.” He insisted on the need to get back to people, saying that “the economy is about people, not the other way round. We’ve got to put people first.”
Concluding, he explained his decision to resign his seat, saying: “I have no regrets myself about leaving … I believe I did the right thing, I made the right decision.”
A similar report is carried in the May edition of the Church Review (Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough)
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