Godfrey's Gospel: Be very wary of politicians bearing gifts

IF I DIDN’T know better, I’d think I was living in Xanadu.

For those who don’t remember that name, it was a song made popular by the late Australian singer Olivia Newton John in a 1980 film of the same name.

Basically, it was a fantasy – all about this idyllic setting where everything was magical. The name itself came from an 1816 poem by poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge titled Kubla Khan and was all about how everything was perfect in the summer capital of the Yun Dynasty.

If you think it was all a little far-fetched, you would be right – just like all the promises being made by all the political parties over the past week. I know it is election time and exaggeration is the order of the day, but seriously, do our leaders genuinely believe they are going to achieve even half of what they have put in their respective manifestos?

This country has been battling a housing shortage since the formation of the state. Granted, there were a few occasions when it appeared there was no housing shortage, but that was due to several factors, mass emigration being one of them.

For more years than anyone wants to remember, emigration was the biggest industry in this country. Parents reared their children only to say goodbye to them at ports and airports.

Each Christmas, one of the major news items involved scenes at Dublin Airport as parents and children alike shed tears of delight as they hugged one another. Two weeks later, the cameras were back again to shoot equally emotional scenes, but for this time the children were saying goodbye all over again.

In 1986, it was estimated that 1,000 young people a week were leaving this country in search of work – most never returned home on a permanent basis.

Now, not alone have we a growing population but, added to the fiasco of the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger blowout, we have a major housing shortage, where production is not keeping pace with demand, much less eat into the ever-growing queue for accommodation.

But if we are to believe our politicians, they have suddenly found a magic wand and have all the answers to our problems. The same goes for practically everything else.

Not too long ago, we were told this country faced a major timebomb when it came to providing for the ageing population that is pensions. We simply cannot afford to give the same financial support to those who are no longer working.

For that very reason, the government introduced a new retirement age of 66 years and wanted to stretch it out to 67 and 68 to soften the blow, so to speak. Added to that, there was a lot of talk about auto enrolment in a pension scheme, which would provide an additional source of income for the retired.

Did either happen. No. And we all know why – votes. It is not a good strategic move to annoy the grey cohort, as some call them. Remember refuse charges and the demonstrations that took place all over the country?

Suddenly everyone took note of an age profile that had been ignored for years. These retirees are the ones who had no problem expressing how they felt and they are the same people who will come out in force to vote.

Hats off to Fianna Fáil, which has promised to increase the old age pension to €350 a week. Voters who will be directly affected by that decision don’t care where the money comes from. The economy may be booming, but if you ask a senior citizen how they feel, they will tell you it has become exceptionally difficult to live on €277.30 or less a week – even with additional benefits towards energy costs. Inflation has taken care of that.

Who cares where the money comes from? Weren’t they able to fork out over €300,000 for a bike shed and more than €1 million for a security hut at Dáil Éireann, so surely they will be able to find an extra few bob for those in receipt of pensions.

We may complain about such an attitude, but like it or not, that is exactly how people think when it comes to matters of bread and butter matters.

Whether that increase ever comes to pass during the lifetime of the next government – like a lot of other promises being made over the past week – remains to be seen.

As one politician put it earlier this week, it sounds good for three weeks, but like a lot of other ideas that sound good, they will be forgotten very quickly when the election ends.

Then I knew I definitely was not living in Xanadu when I saw that Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch is to run as a candidate. Currently on bail from the Spanish courts in Lanzarote, where he spent 12 days following his arrest on suspicion of money laundering, he has registered to stand as an Independent candidate in Dublin’s north inner city, declaring he was ‘the people’s choice’.