Budgetary Fairytale

Fabulous photoshop from Jennifer Farley depicting that paragon of Irish patriotism, Brian Lenihan.

I’ll say nothing more about the budget though other than recount a little tale.

“Once upon a time, in a green and magical kingdom called Wicklow, a citizen of that fair land had reason to ask the prince about how he was spending public money. The prince had decreed that should any citizen have a question about how he and his servants were spending money, they should just ask him. The prince called this his “Freedom of Information” initiative.

So the citizen dispatched a messenger to the prince’s castle to seek some information. This request caused such a flurry of excitement among all the prince’s staff, that no fewer than four of his staff dispatched messages in reply to the citizens request. The messengers all gave the same answer, which the citizen was happy with.

But the citizen was perturbed. He began to wonder if, perhaps, the prince had not got far too many staff that four of them could all take the time to dispatch those messages. He wondered how this could be when people from his own clan were losing their jobs to citizens of other, far far distant lands. The citizen was realistic though. Although he would give his life for his clan, he knew the forces affecting them were part of a bigger picture. Far outside the boundaries of his own land, there were other people hungry for work. People who could do the job his clan did, and do it cheaper. Although it pained him, he had to accept it because there was nothing he could do. He knew it wasn’t only his clan that was affected. A lot more clans were feeling the pain too.

But the prince’s men and women seemed to be immune from this pain. To the citizen, the world inside the prince’s castle was very different from the world outside. The prince’s staff did not have to worry about such things as those far distant lands. They did not need to worry about losing their job, or suffering cutback, even though it was clear to the citizen that the castle had too many people working in it.

And so it came to pass that the high king announced a review of spending all over the land. The citizen rejoiced, believing the high king to be a fair man, and a man with vision. He would surely see that the prince had far too many staff. Although the citizen would not wish misfortune on another, he believed that everyone needed to justify their place in the court of the prince.

But the citizen was disappointed after the high king revealed his spending plans. The high king turned out to be a man with little vision and even less backbone.

The citizen did not sleep well, and had a heavy heart.”