Dont let Ebenezer Lenihan Ruin your Christmas

Twas a few days before the budget, and all around the house, Nothing stirred, not even a mouse….

What festive cuts can we expect this year and what will it all mean for you and I?  Christmas… Bah Humbug!

Assuming that we don’t all get looted while the law is on strike, we can assume that we will all be a bit worse off, but we were expecting that.  Life will be a bit more of a struggle and, if we were to believe the general theme of the press, one could be forgiven for thinking that this may well be the last Christmas ever – such are the prevailing prophecies of doom for our little isle.

I for one do not think that that the level of doom and gloom is warranted.  I’m fed up of people saying that it’s going to be an awful Christmas.  Have people forgotten what it’s all about?  Did the Celtic Tiger take away our sense of magic?  Santa may well be affected by the budget too and his gifts may be more frugal.  Does that make him any less wonderful than I remember him from my own childhood?

In recruitment we have seen an upturn.  It is not a huge one, but it is an upturn never the less.  Businesses know that if they are not growing and finding new ways to do business better than their competitors, then they are not going to pull through.  The point some people seem to be missing is that a large percentage of our businesses have been through recessions before.  They have the experience to know what is required to pull through it.

All you nurses, doctors and other medical staff know that you are going to be in demand.  Nursing was a popular career choice during the 80′s when nursing offered security above and beyond that of other careers.  With the Celtic Tiger came a feeling of entitlement.  If the country is so rich, where is the share for the front line workers?  But that has changed again.  Now there is nothing.  Nothing?  There is security in a career that will always be in existence, you will always be needed.

It holds true for all medical staff.  Science careers are also more assured than most.  Ireland is putting considerable resources into maintaining and indeed accelerating R+D investment.  Simple economics are at play here (the type that even I have no problem understanding).  More exports = More money coming into the country.  This is the best way of increasing a countries wealth.  So to get more revenue in we need to export. Develop and sell.  The multi-nationals have a huge part to play here too.  They create jobs and even with the tax breaks available to them, they contribute to this land of ours through taxes.

In the 80′s we lost huge numbers of our skilled workforce abroad.  Now, with fewer opportunities in far away lands, we have a wealth of people right here.  If we can tap into our own resources we may just find that we are in a better position than we were back in the days of bad hair styles and leg warmers.

Enough of the bah humbugs!  Let us make merry with what we have and work hard at creating a more affluent new year!