The Guardian view on the Irish election: economic pain for no political gain | Editorial
The voters don't do gratitude, self-pitying politicians are wont to moan. For technocratic admirers of Dublin's outgoing Fine Gael/Labour coalition, the Irish election of 2016 has proved the point. In 2011, a near-bankrupt and recently bailed-out republic turned to Enda Kenny as a new broom, and his government enjoyed a record majority. Five years on, the economy is growing at quite a pelt, an unemployment rate which had been at 15% is back down in single figures, and after years of retrenchment the government has - finally - got its own debt back down below 100% of GDP. Europe's economic authorities, who have had precious few austerity success stories to point to, have clung on to Ireland as a case that shows the medicine can work.
But by routing Mr Kenny with unexpected ferocity, the voters have revealed that they do not see things this way at all - and don't assume that they are wrong. For several years into the technical recovery, living standards continued to slide. While protesters against stiff new water charges were briefly locked up, the bankers who led Ireland into the mire still walk free. Wages remain insecure, and public services - which were always patchier in Ireland than the UK - have become less adequate. The bill for the crisis was passed to citizens who had nothing to do with its cause, and now the people are justly seething.
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