Perfect occasion for senior politicians and civil servants to apologise to Irish people

What a difference it would make if some senior politician or civil servant came forward and apologised for the bufoonery for which they were responsible.

This weekend heads of government meet in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Wall. Imagine if our leaders decided to forego the celebration and explan to the Irish people and EU that they are ashamed of themselves and the errors they made. Before they begin to cut the money from the poorest of the poor, surely they are obliged to admit their own terrible mistakes.

And our civil servants, where have they been? They are treated with great respect. We have been forever told that they are the 'real government'. Was there no one there who was not brave enough to say inside the estabishment that the bufoonery should stop?

It was the ordinary people in East Germany who knocked down the Wall. It had little to do with high civil servants and politicians.

Is it time for the Irish to take to the streets? If only we could take the example of the East Germans and take to the streets in peace and respect. But the great worry now must be that it could turn to violence.