One Ireland For The Rich, And Another For The Poor

IT INCREASINGLY appears there are two Irelands. One is the world we see in the High and Commercial courts and one is that of ordinary people. Yesterday was a case in point.

In the Commercial Court, Sean Quinn and his family were granted over €30,000 in monthly living expenses.

This included a payment of more than €5,000 a month to Sean Quinn Jnr, currently in jail, and over €2,800 to his wife.                                                                                                                                                                   ( Seán Quinn, is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur. In 2008 he was the richest person in Ireland, but in 2011 he filed for bankruptcy. The son of a small farmer, he left school at 14 years of age unable to read or write.

Barnardos has now found that 80pc of parents are struggling with the cost of sending their children to school.                                                                                                                                                                                            As you read this, 10pc of parents are facing debt or trying to borrow money simply to cover this basic cost.

As they struggle on, they read daily of the astronomical sums that are been dealt with in the country’s courts, and witness jailed businessmen like Sean Quinn Jnr being awarded €5,000 a month.

They could then be forgiven for thinking that there are two Irelands — and that they are a billion miles apart.