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 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

A U S T E RI TY A N D RE C O V E R Y I N I R ELA N D
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

Austerity and Recovery

in Ireland
Europe’s Poster Child and
the Great Recession

Edited by
WI LLIA M K. ROC H E, PH ILI P J. O ’ C O N N E L L ,
AND ANDREA PROTHERO

1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
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First Edition published in 2017
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contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

Preface

The Great Recession was a cataclysmic event in modern Irish history and the
genesis and effects of the crisis remain matters of enquiry and debate within
Ireland. The dramatic recent rebound of the Irish economy shows no signs of
dulling the edge of analysis and debate concerning the domestic and inter-
national lineage of the crisis, or the manner in which international institutions
dealt with Ireland as the country sought to handle a calamitous fall in output,
the near collapse of its banks, ballooning fiscal deficits, escalating unemploy-
ment, and the reoccurrence of mass emigration.
This book arose from the shared conviction of both editors and contributors
that it was important that Ireland’s experience of austerity, and subsequently of
recovery, should be the subject of rigorous social scientific analysis, drawing on
the highest quality data available. This view was further underlined by Ireland
so often being cited internationally as an exemplar of how austerity can prime
economic recovery and renewal.
The editors were gratified that a group of Ireland’s leading social scientists
were willing to contribute enthusiastically to the book. All are internationally
acknowledged scholars in the areas which they contribute. Given the serious
effects of the Great Recession and the austerity programme on many areas of
Irish life, the book is necessarily interdisciplinary: drawing on the insights of
economists, finance specialists, legal scholars, sociologists, political scientists,
Europeanists, business, management, marketing, and industrial relations
scholars, public management analysts, migration researchers, housing special-
ists, and cultural analysts. This, we believe, is one of the book’s major strengths
and contributions. Another contribution is that the book presents the first
analysis of the Irish case that examines the crisis, the austerity programme
agreed between Ireland and the Troika of the European Commission (EC), the
European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
and Ireland’s dramatic economic rebound from 2014. This allows contributors
to the book to consider whether, or in what way, the austerity programme can
be viewed as having contributed to Ireland’s recovery. In this context, a third
major theme concerns the scepticism of the book’s contributors that Ireland
should in fact be viewed as a ‘poster child’ or exemplar of austerity-primed
recovery and renewal in Europe that vindicates the response of the European
Union (EU) and international institutions to countries beset by economic and
fiscal crisis after 2008. A fourth theme explores the extent to which the crisis
and austerity programme led to major and likely enduring changes in eco-
nomic, financial, business, political, work, and labour market institutions, and
in patterns of consumption.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

vi Preface
A book dealing with such major themes and involving multiple contributors
from many disciplines is a challenging undertaking. We would like to
acknowledge with gratitude the support we received during our work on the
project. Financial support towards a conference of contributors, held in June
2015 at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College
Dublin (UCD), was received from the UCD College of Business and the UCD
Geary Institute for Public Policy. The conference allowed the editors and
contributors to discuss the book’s main themes and to highlight the main
lessons of the Irish case. All contributions to the book were substantially
revised in light of discussion at the conference. We would like to thank
Adam Swallow, Commissioning Editor for Economics and Finance at Oxford
University Press (OUP), for his encouragement for the project from its
inception and for his very helpful comments and advice on how the book
could best be given shape. We are grateful to the four anonymous reviewers for
OUP, who contributed many helpful comments and suggestions on a detailed
outline and on a range of draft chapters. Our thanks also to the delegates of
OUP for accepting the book for publication and for further comments on the
proposal and reviews. At OUP, Aimee Wright and Lowri Ribbons also pro-
vided much helpful advice and support. At UCD, Bernie Cramp provided
excellent administrative support to the project throughout and we would like
to record our thanks to her for her work on the book.
Bill Roche, Philip O’Connell,
and Andy Prothero
Dublin, April 2016
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

Contents

List of Figures ix
List of Tables xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
List of Contributors xix

1. Introduction ‘Poster Child’ or ‘Beautiful Freak’?: Austerity

and Recovery in Ireland 1
William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell, and Andrea Prothero
2. The Road to Austerity 23
Seán Ó Riain
3. Economic and Fiscal Policy 40
Stephen Kinsella
4. Business 62
Frank Barry and Adele Bergin
5. The Financial Sector 85
Gregory Connor, Thomas Flavin, and Brian O’Kelly
6. Banking Regulation 107
Blanaid Clarke
7. Consumption 124
Marius C. Claudy, Andrew Keating, and Andrea Prothero
8. Ireland and the ‘GIPS’ Countries 141
Paul Teague
9. Political Reform 160
David M. Farrell
10. International Actors and Agencies 177
Brigid Laffan
11. Workplaces 194
William K. Roche
12. Public Service Reform 214
Richard Boyle
13. Unemployment and Labour Market Policy 232
Philip J. O’Connell
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

viii Contents

14. Inequality 252

Kathleen Lynch, Sara Cantillon, and Margaret Crean
15. Housing 272
Rob Kitchin, Rory Hearne, and Cian O’Callaghan
16. Migration 290
Irial Glynn and Philip J. O’Connell
17. Culture 311
Donald Taylor Black

Index 327
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Figures

2.1. Proportion of all corporate profits (gross operating surplus) going

to the ‘financial intermediation’ (banking) sector, 1988–2007 28
3.1. Components of government revenues, per cent 43
3.2. Components of Irish government expenditure from 1994 to 2016, with
2007 as the index year 45
3.3. Three largest ‘votes’ of net government expenditure from 1994 to 2016,
€ billions 46
3.4. Evolution of expenditure and revenue as per cent of GDP, excluding
interest payments 47
3.5. New debt and interest payments as per cent of GDP from
2007 to 2016 48
3.6. Gross and net debt for Ireland, expressed as per cent of GDP,
2000 to 2016 49
3.7. Sectoral balances—Ireland, quarterly, millions of euros 52
3.8. Changes in social expenditure and inequality as measured by the
Gini coefficient 55
3.9. Components of real GDP growth, 2003 to 2016 56
3.10. Changes in real gross domestic product and the cyclically
adjusted primary balance from 2009 to 2013 57
4.1. Per capita gross national income (PPS): Ireland relative to the UK 63
4.2. Total employment, 1994=100: Germany, Ireland, UK, and USA 63
4.3. Sectoral employment, thousands, Ireland 65
4.4. Growth in Irish and EU15 exports, 1995=100 70
4.5. Shares of services in total exports 71
4.6. Relative hourly earnings in manufacturing in a common
currency, 1995–2014 (1995=100) 72
4.7. Sectoral contribution to Irish manufacturing export growth 76
4.8. Sectoral contributions to Irish services export growth 77
4.9. Employment recovery in production of exports, 2007=100 78
5.1. Composition of domestic banking sector balance sheet 88
5.2. Residential property index: 1996–2014 89
5.3. Liabilities of the Central Bank of Ireland relative to GDP 97
5.4. Household and private enterprise debt to GDP ratios 100
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

x List of Figures
5.5. Sectoral breakdown of Irish banking lending (excluding
financial intermediation) 101
5.6. Default rates of residential and investment mortgages 102
5.7. Repossession rates for defaulted mortgages 102
7.1. Personal spending on goods and services in Ireland, 2006–15 125
7.2. Retail sales index: 2006–15 (Base 2005=100) 126
7.3. Irish consumer confidence, 2006–15 127
8.1. GDP growth in GIPS countries, 2006–14 146
8.2. Unemployment in GIPS countries 147
8.3. Gross public debt as per cent of GDP at market prices 148
8.4. Unit labour costs in GIPS countries, 1998–2014 148
8.5. Exports as per cent of GDP (market prices) 150
9.1. Irish political reforms, 2011– 165
11.1. The trend in nominal unit labour costs in Ireland and the EU 198
11.2. The trend in trade union density 2003–14 202
11.3. Work pressure, 2003 and 2009 206
11.4. Work intensity, 2004 and 2010 207
11.5. Employees’ influence over decisions in the job and organization,
2004 and 2010 208
12.1. Numbers employed in the public service 220
12.2. Public service pay and pensions 221
12.3. Senior Executives’ Perceptions of the Impact of the Fiscal Crisis on
Power Relations 223
12.4. Cutback measures applied at organizational level in response
to the fiscal crisis 224
13.1. Standardized long-term and total unemployment rates, 2007–15 233
13.2. Unemployment rates by education, 2007, 2012, 2015 (Q4) 237
13.3. Number of participants in ALMPs, December 2014 247
14.1. The impact of Ireland’s budgetary policy 2009–15 on equivalized
income deciles 256
14.2. Consistent poverty rates by household composition 2009–13 258
14.3. Direct, indirect, and total household taxation as % of gross income
equivalized data 259
14.4. Children and poverty, 2008 to 2013 261
15.1. Number of completed housing units per annum, 1991–2015 274
15.2. Change in property price index: 2007–14 276
15.3. Location of unfinished estates and number of units per estates, 2010 278
16.1. Gross and net migration flows, 1987–2015 291
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Figures xi
16.2. Unemployment rates, Irish and non-Irish nationality, 2007–15 296
16.3. Emigration from Ireland by nationality, 2006–15 299
16.4. Gross emigration of nationals per 1,000 of national population
from selected European countries, 2009–13 300
16.5. Reasons for departure (in per cent) of Irish emigrants, 2008–13 301
16.6. Economic status (in per cent) of emigrants aged over 15, 2009–15 302
16.7. Education levels (in per cent) of Irish population’s 25–34 year olds
in 2012 compared with Irish emigrants, 2008–13 304
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Tables

1.1. The 32 billion euro austerity package, Ireland, 2008–15 5

2.1. Actual and ‘potential’ budget balances in the ‘varieties of capitalism’
in Europe, 1999–2007 25
3.1. The balance sheet of the Irish sovereign 51
4.1. Percentage shares of business sector employment 65
4.2. Shares of foreign-owned affiliates in manufacturing and services 66
4.3. Sectoral percentage shares in Irish and EU15 goods exports 67
4.4. Sectoral percentage shares in Irish and EU15 services exports 67
4.5. Backward linkages per job in indigenous and foreign industry in
Ireland, 2013 68
4.6. Employment in a selection of manufacturing and service sectors,
2000 and 2007 73
4.7. The sectoral structure of Irish exports and world import demand 75
4.8. Employment directly generated by production of exports 78
4.9. Number of active enterprises by sector, 2007–12 79
4.10. Permanent full-time employment in agency-assisted firms 80
4.11. Regional employment dynamics, 2007–15 81
5.1. Chronology of key events 86
5.2. Composition of NAMA portfolio by asset and region 95
8.1. Social consequences of fiscal consolidation in GIPS countries 145
9.1. Institutional reforms in Europe: 1990–2010 161
9.2. Assessing the ICC in terms of outcomes 171
11.1. Developments in basic rates of pay in IBEC member firms, 2009–15 196
11.2. Cuts in pay bills and their components in private-sector enterprises 197
11.3. Developments in earnings in the private sector 205
11.4. Reductions in the gross salaries of public service grades, 2009–13 205
11.5. Effects of recessionary financial difficulty and changes in employment
on levels of job control 208
13.1. Principal changes in the labour market, 2007, 2012, and 2015 (Q4) 233
13.2. Employment, unemployment, and labour force participation by
age group, 2007, 2012, and 2015 (Q4) 235
13.3. Employment and unemployment by education, 2007, 2012,
and 2015 (Q4) 236
13.4. Employment and unemployment by nationality, 2007, 2012, and 2015 238
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

xiv List of Tables

13.5. Unemployment rates by nationality, 2007, 2012, and 2015 238
13.6. Employment by sector 2007, 2012, and 2015 (000) 239
14.1. Changes in share of equivalized income by decile, Ireland 2008–13 255
14.2. Real incomes, poverty, and deprivation rates, Ireland 2008–13 257
16.1. Total inward, outward, and net migration, 2008–15 292
16.2. Total population 2006 to 2015, classified by nationality 293
16.3. Employment by nationality, 2004–15 (Q4) 295
16.4. Inward, outward, and net migration by educational attainment,
May 2008–April 2015 305
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Abbreviations

AIB Allied Irish Banks

ALMPs active labour market policies
BOI Bank of Ireland
BoP Balance of Payments
BRRD Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive
BTL buy-to-let (mortgages)
CBIFSA Central Bank of Ireland and Financial Services Authority
CEBS Committee of European Bank Supervisors
COCOPS Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future
CSO Central Statistics Office
CWS Community Welfare Service
DECLG Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
DPER Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
DRHE Dublin Region Homeless Executive
DSP Department of Social Protection
EBS Educational Building Society
EC European Commission
ECB European Central Bank
ECF employment control frameworks
ECOFIN Economic and Financial Affairs Council
ECRI European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
ELA Emergency Liquidity Assistance
ELG Eligible Liabilities Guarantee (scheme)
ELS Emergency Liquidity Support
EMC Economic Management Council
EMU Economic and Monetary Union
EPCU External Programme Compliance Unit
EPL employment protection legislation
EPP European People’s Party
ERC European Research Council
ESRI Economic and Social Research Institute
ETBs Education and Training Boards
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

xvi List of Abbreviations

EU European Union
Eurofound European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions
FÁS Foras Áiseanna Saothair (former National Training Authority)
FDI foreign direct investment
FEMPI Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest
FMP Financial Measures Programme
FOI freedom of information
GDP gross domestic product
GIIPS Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain
GIPS Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain
GNI gross national income
GNP gross national product
HAP Housing Assistance Payment
HoGs Heads of Governments
HR human resources
HSE Health Service Executive
IBEC Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation
IBRC Irish Bank Resolution Corporation
ICC International Chamber of Commerce
ICT information and communications technology
IDA (Ireland) Industrial Development Authority (Ireland)
IFB Irish Film Board
IFSC International Financial Services Centre
IFSRA Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority
IFTA Irish Film and Television Academy
IL&P Irish Life and Permanent
ILO International Labour Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
INBS Irish Nationwide Building Society
Intreo Integrated National Employment and Entitlement Service
IT information technology
JA Jobseeker’s Allowance
JB Jobseeker’s Benefit
LPT local property tax
LRC Labour Relations Commission
LTU long-term unemployment
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Abbreviations xvii

MABS Money Advice and Budgeting Service
NACE Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les
Communautés Européennes/European industrial activity
classification
NAMA National Asset Management Agency
NCFA National Campaign for the Arts
NEAP National Employment Action Plan
NESC National Economic and Social Council
NMS new member states
NPG new public governance
NPM new public management
NRP National Recovery Plan
NYCI National Youth Council of Ireland
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PCAR Prudential Capital Assessment Review
PDs Progressive Democrats Party
PES Public Employment Service
PEX probability of exit
PLAR Prudential Liquidity Assessment Review
PLC post-Leaving Certificate
PMDS Performance Management and Development System
PNR Programme of National Recovery
PPPs public–private partnerships
PRD pension-related deduction
PRISM Probability Risk and Impact System
PRSI pay-related social insurance
PTW Pathways to Work
R&D research and development
RAS Rental Accommodation Scheme
REIT Real Estate Investment Trusts
RTÉ Raidió Teilifís Éireann (State broadcasting authority)
S&P Standard & Poor’s
SFLCA Special Firm-Level Collective Agreement
SIPO Standards in Public Office Commission
SMEs small and medium sized enterprises
SMI Strategic Management Initiative
SOLAS An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna (Further
Education and Training Authority)
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

xviii List of Abbreviations

SRPs Site Resolution Plans
SSM single supervisory mechanism
TDs Teachtai Dála (members of the lower house of the Irish parliament)
TGI Target Group Index
UCD University College Dublin
VAT value added taxes
WTO World Trade Organization
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Contributors

Frank Barry is Professor of International Business and Economic Development

at Trinity College Dublin. His research areas include foreign direct investment
(FDI) and Irish economic and business history.
Adele Bergin is a Senior Research Officer at the Economic and Social Research
Institute (ESRI). Her research interests are in labour economics and
macroeconomics.
Donald Taylor Black is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer,
and educator. He was Head of the Department of Film & Media at the Institute
of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire (IADT) during 2001–7 and
2010–16, the first Creative Director of the National Film School at IADT from
2006–16, and Vice-Chair of Groupement Européen des Ecoles de Cinéma et
de Télévision (GEECT) (2014–16), the European association of film schools.
Richard Boyle is Head of Research, Publishing, and Corporate Relations
at the Institute of Public Administration in Ireland. His major areas of
specialization, in which he has published extensively, include public sector
performance management, monitoring and evaluation systems, and public
service change and reform programmes.
Sara Cantillon is Professor of Economics at Glasgow Caledonian University
and Director of Women in Scotland (WiSE) Economy Research Centre.
Previously, she was Head of the UCD School of Social Justice. Her main areas
of research are equality, poverty, gender, and intra-household distribution.
Professor Cantillon was appointed to the Expert Group on Future Funding for
Higher Education 2014–17.
Blanaid Clarke is the McCann FitzGerald Chair in Corporate Law at Trinity
College Dublin. Her research interests include corporate governance, financial
services law, and takeover regulation and she has published extensively in these
areas. She is a member of the Irish Central Bank Commission, the European
Securities and Markets Authority Takeover Bids Network, the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Corporate Governance
Committee, and the EC’s Informal Company Law Expert Group.
Marius C. Claudy is a Lecturer in Marketing at UCD. He has published widely
on issues around sustainable consumption and the adoption of sustainable
behaviours, practices, and technologies. Marius is involved in a UCD-funded
multidisciplinary research project, which investigates how consumption has
changed during the financial crisis and subsequent recession.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

xx List of Contributors
Gregory Connor is Professor of Finance at Maynooth University; his research
interests are in financial risk modelling.
Margaret Crean is a graduate in both Science and Social Sciences from UCD,
where she also completed her MSc and PhD in Equality Studies in the School
of Social Justice. She has published a wide range of academic papers on
equality issues, including papers on inequality in education, social class, and
palliative care.
David M. Farrell, MRIA, holds the Chair of Politics at UCD, where he is
incoming Head of the School of Politics and International Relations. From
2012–14 he was the Research Director of the Irish Constitutional Convention.
A specialist in the study of parties, elections, and electoral systems, his current
work is focused on deliberation and politics.
Thomas Flavin is Senior Lecturer in Financial Economics at Maynooth
University, with research interests in international finance, particularly
financial contagion and market integration.
Irial Glynn is Lecturer at the Institute of History in Leiden University. His
research focuses on post-war Irish and Italian migration experiences, global
trends in asylum policymaking from a historical perspective, and the links
between memory studies and migration studies.
Rory Hearne is Senior Policy Analyst at Think-tank for Action on Social
Change (TASC), a Dublin-based independent think tank whose focus is
economic equality and democratic accountability. His work concerns housing,
politics, political economy, privatization, human rights, social movements,
and community development.
Andrew Keating is a Lecturer in Marketing at UCD. His research interests lie in
the areas of consumer research and marketing and new venture development.
His work has been published in journals such as Entrepreneurship, Theory
and Practice, Industrial Marketing Management, and Consumption, Markets
and Culture.
Stephen Kinsella is Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of
Limerick. His interests are stock flow consistent macroeconomics and the
study of the impact of austerity.
Rob Kitchin is a Professor and European Research Council (ERC) Advanced
Investigator at the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis at
Maynooth University. He specializes in social and urban geography broadly
conceived, and has published widely across the social sciences.
Brigid Laffan is Director and Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre
for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence. She was
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi

List of Contributors xxi

Vice-President of UCD and Principal of the College of Human Sciences from
2004 to 2011. She was the Founding Director of the Dublin European Institute
UCD from 1999, and in March 2004 she was elected as a member of the Royal
Irish Academy (MRIA). In September 2014 she was awarded the University
Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Kathleen Lynch is a Professor of Equality Studies at UCD and an Irish
Research Council Advanced Research Scholar 2014–17. She is guided by the
belief that the purpose of scholarship and research is not just to understand
the world, but to change it for the good of humanity.
Cian O’Callaghan is a Lecturer in Urban Geography at Trinity College
Dublin. He specializes in urban political economy and geographies of the
crisis, with a particular focus on housing, vacancy, and spatial justice.
Philip J. O’Connell is Professor of Applied Social Science and Director of the
Geary Institute for Public Policy at UCD. His main areas of work are in labour
markets and migration.
Brian O’Kelly is Adjunct Professor of Finance at Dublin City University, with
research interests are in banking and bank regulation.
Seán Ó Riain is Professor of Sociology at the National University of Ireland
Maynooth. He is the author of The Politics of High Tech Growth (2004)
and The Rise and Fall of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger (2014), and co-editor of The
Changing Worlds and Workplaces of Capitalism (2015). He is currently
directing the project ‘New Deals in the New Economy’, funded by an ERC
Consolidator Grant.
Andrea Prothero is Professor of Business and Society at the College of
Business, UCD. Andy’s research interests focus on sustainability and business,
and the relationships between marketing and society. She has published widely
in these areas.
William K. Roche is Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources
at the College of Business UCD, and Honorary Professor at the Management
School, Queen’s University, Belfast. He has published extensively on
employment relations. He is co-author of Recession at Work: HRM in the Irish
Crisis (2013).
Paul Teague is Professor of Management at Queen’s University, Belfast. He
has written widely on the theme of the employment relations consequences
of deeper European integration and human resources in the recession. He is
co-author of Recession at Work: HRM in the Irish Crisis (2013).
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 17/10/2016, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

Introduction ‘Poster Child’

or ‘Beautiful Freak’?
Austerity and Recovery in Ireland

William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell, and Andrea Prothero

Christine Lagarde took her place at the podium and smiled warmly at the large
audience. Gathered to listen to her in the ceremonial splendour of St Patrick’s
Hall at Dublin Castle was a large appreciative audience of politicians, business
leaders, senior civil servants, and diplomats. The managing director of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered congratulations for the manner in
which the Irish Government and people had handled the crisis. Ireland, she
told them, was setting standards. It was March 2013 and the country was
within months of exiting the bailout arranged with the ‘Troika’ of the IMF, the
European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Commission (EC). Looking
on from the front row during an equally upbeat press conference later in
Government Buildings was Ajai Chopra, head of the Troika team dispatched
to Ireland in November 2010 to negotiate the terms of Ireland’s rescue
package. Chopra was the subject of an iconic press photograph taken at that
time. Striding with his team towards the Irish Department of Finance, he
encountered a beggar rattling a cup in the hope of soliciting some support—an
apt visual commentary on the plight of the country he was there to rescue.
An ocean appeared to separate the Ireland of 2013 and 2010. Recovery had
begun and would gather pace as the country eased its way out of the rescue
programme without the need for a precautionary credit line from the depart-
ing international institutions. When Ireland ceded its economic sovereignty it
became convenient to blame the Troika for unpopular taxes, spending cuts,
and reform measures. Some political leaders thought to challenge ‘Frankfurt’s
way’, especially by attempting to institute burden-sharing with unsecured
senior bondholders in the calamitous Anglo Irish Bank. But as Ireland pro-
gressed towards (again) becoming Europe’s strongest performing economy,
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

2 William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell, and Andrea Prothero

figures in the government were now pleased to accept plaudits from the
Troika. They freely lectured their beleaguered Greek colleagues during the
2015 Greek crisis on the benefits that had flowed from austerity. Europe’s
basket case was now Europe’s poster child.
This book provides an account of Ireland’s experience of austerity and
recovery. The Irish authorities are shown to have been the main authors of
austerity. The major policies agreed with the Troika had been initiated by the
Irish Government before the country was forced into accepting a bailout. To a
greater degree than is commonly acknowledged Ireland’s austerity was auto
austerity. The book shows that the restructuring of the banks and fiscal
consolidation were important in turning around Ireland’s fortunes. But aus-
terity and bailout reforms are shown to have occurred to varying degrees
across different areas. The book examines the role of Troika institutions in
improvising fixes for Ireland’s troubled banks—indeed, one could argue, the
Troika sailed close to the wind with respect to their legal mandates.
The sophistication of Ireland’s negotiators in their dealings with the IMF,
the ECB, and the European Union (EU) is a significant feature of the story. The
multiple costs of austerity are given their due weight in assessing Ireland’s
experience. Recovery is attributed, above all, to the trading position Ireland had
built up over many decades and to the country’s ability to benefit from global
economic recovery, supported by an international financial system character-
ized by low interest rates and quantitative easing. The book also highlights the
political and social context that sustained austerity. The government’s decision
to opt for austerity reflected a long-established pro-cyclical bias in fiscal policy
and in politics. The sustainability of austerity was reinforced by support from
the main political parties for the decision to implement austerity and for most
of the measures involved. During the Great Recession, political and social
dissent was limited, finding expression in left-wing protest against measures
such as water charges, and in growing electoral support for the anti-austerity
Sinn Fein Party and for independent members of parliament. Dissent and civil
or industrial disorder on the scale evident in other bailout countries were
absent in Ireland. Trade union resistance was muted in the private sector
because employers refrained from an offensive on basic pay levels and collect-
ive bargaining. In the public sector unions were involved in, rather than
excluded from, measures for cutting the public service pay bill.
To examine these themes, multidisciplinary chapters in the book draw on
extensive empirical data covering a wide spectrum of Irish economic, political,
social, and cultural affairs. They provide the fullest possible portrayal of the
impact of this cataclysmic event on Irish life and allow for an assessment of
whether Ireland can validly be regarded as a ‘poster child’ or exemplar for
austerity-enabled recovery.
Two considerations explain the range of areas covered in the book. First, in
order to understand fully the impact of the dramatic economic and social
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

‘Poster Child’ or ‘Beautiful Freak’? 3

experiment wrought by the recession and resulting austerity, it is necessary to
move well beyond the banking and fiscal crisis or related reforms that have
dominated coverage of Ireland’s collapse and that remain more or less centre
stage in discussions of Ireland’s recovery. Austerity affected many more areas
of Irish life. As shown in the chapters of the book, it profoundly affected the
labour market, workplaces, migration, public management, consumption,
housing, inequality and disadvantage, and culture. The mood of reform to
which austerity contributed also led to ambitious plans for radical change in
political institutions. To understand how austerity in Ireland was shaped and
sustained, it is necessary to examine how the Irish authorities dealt with the
international institutions involved in the bailout programme: the ECB, EU,
and IMF. To understand how Ireland found itself so exposed to cataclysmic
collapse in 2008 it is also necessary to examine Ireland’s longer-run develop-
ment over the decades preceding the crisis.
A second consideration behind the broad scope of the book concerns
Ireland’s status as a poster child or exemplar for how austerity can be turned
into economic recovery and renewed growth. A proper assessment of Ireland
as an exemplar turns in part on understanding the full impact of austerity on
Irish life. It depends as well on the extent to which austerity resulted in
significant institutional reforms that directly contributed to recovery. But it
turns also, crucially, on addressing a classical problem in comparative social
science: whether the effects attributed to any particular set of reforms may
have been predicated on their concurrence with other and perhaps less visible
institutional arrangements, or with long-established patterns of development
that could not easily, or not at all, be replicated by other countries.
One of the book’s major themes is that Ireland’s recovery—like its descent
to near calamity—can only be understood in terms of the confluence of a
series of features of the economy, polity, and society without direct parallels in
other Troika programme countries. In the words of Kinsella in Chapter 3,
Ireland’s import is less that of a ‘poster child’ than that of a ‘beautiful freak’: a
case marked by highly unusual and historically specific features and influences
that acted in concert and shaped a pathway to recovery unlikely to have been,
or to become, available to other countries affected by economic calamity.
In sustaining this understanding of Ireland’s experience of the Great
Recession and recovery, the following themes are examined by contributors
to the book:
1. The features and effects of recession, austerity, and associated reforms
across Irish economic, political, social, and cultural life.
2. Whether a viable alternative was available to the austerity programme
agreed with the ECB, EC, and the IMF.
3. The degree to which austerity reforms and other associated reforms
achieved their stated objectives.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

4 William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell, and Andrea Prothero

4. The costs associated with recession and austerity, and where, or upon
whom, the burden of these costs fell.
5. The degree to which austerity was a contributor to Ireland’s recovery and
whether Ireland should be considered a poster child or exemplar for
other countries facing economic and fiscal calamity.
These themes provide a framework for Chapter 1 and are considered, in
turn, in the rest of the chapter.

THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF AUSTERITY

There is no commonly agreed definition of austerity. Blythe (2013: 2) employs

a broad definition of austerity as:
[A] form of voluntary deflation where the economy adjusts through the reduction
of wages, prices and public spending to restore competitiveness, which is (sup-
posedly) best achieved by cutting the state’s budget, debts, and deficits.
This approach incorporates fiscal contraction as well as wage and price cuts in
order to meet investor demands and restore competiveness. Thompson (2013:
733), however, argues that the rationales for austerity may vary, that the fiscal
crisis itself may require austerity to balance the books, and, moreover, that
fiscal consolidation may be quite involuntary:
At a certain point, the future cost of servicing debt is prohibitive and a full-scale
debt crisis ensues, as Greece, Ireland and Portugal found. There is no necessity for
an idea of austerity here; governments face a choice between default and the state
not being able to meet basic financial commitments.
This seems closer to the Irish experience: the central thrust of austerity in
Ireland consisted of severe cuts to expenditure and increases in taxation.
There were two distinct factors underlying the fiscal crisis of the Irish state:
financing day-to-day activities and the cost of the bank crisis. First, when the
property bubble burst in 2007–8 the contraction in economic activity and
employment, combined with over-reliance on property-related taxes during
the boom—which were used to fund rapid increases in expenditure—led to a
dramatic shortfall of government revenue over expenditure. The General
Government Balance, relating just to financing of day-to-day current and
capital expenditures (i.e. excluding the cost of bailing out the banks), fell to
−7.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008, and by this measure
the deficit grew to just under 12 per cent in both 2009 and 2010. Second, this
deterioration in the fiscal position was aggravated by the massive transfers of
funds to the banking system and direct injections of capital into the banks,
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

‘Poster Child’ or ‘Beautiful Freak’? 5

Table 1.1. The 32 billion euro austerity package, Ireland, 2008–15
2008–10 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2008–15

€ Billion
Revenue 5.6 1.4 1.6 1.3 0.9 0.7 11.5
Expenditure 9.2 3.9 2.2 2.3 1.6 1.3 20.5
Total 14.7 5.3 3.8 3.5 2.5 2.0 31.8
Percentage of 2010 GDP 9.2% 3.3% 2.3% 2.1% 1.5% 1.1% 19.5%

Source: FitzGerald 2014.

Shaded area represents the period of the IMF–ECB–EC ‘bailout’ programme.

with the result that that gross government debt soared to almost over 120 per
cent of GDP by 2013 (FitzGerald 2014). Almost one-third of this increased
debt (or 40 per cent of GDP) was directly attributable to the money transferred
to the banking system under the bank bailout. However, another 50 percent-
age points (of GDP) of the debt at the end of 2012 was attributable to the
borrowing undertaken after 2008 to finance the fiscal imbalance between
taxation and expenditure that had accumulated since the beginning of the
crisis. So while Ireland had a relatively modest and apparently sustainable debt
to GDP ratio of about 25 per cent in 2007, immediately before the recession,
the combined effects of repeated fiscal deficits—due to the recession—as well
as the banking bailout, were to result in Ireland becoming one of the most
indebted countries in the world by 2012.
In the face of this fiscal crisis, the Irish Government embarked on a severe
austerity programme to restore balance to the public finances with the aim of
reducing the headline fiscal balance from over 12 per cent of GDP in 2008 to
less than 3 per cent in 2015. Table 1.1 sets out a summary outline of the
austerity package, entailing a total adjustment of 32 billion euros, consisting of
20.5 billion euros in expenditure cuts and 11.5 billion euros in tax increases
(FitzGerald 2014).
The cumulative effects of this austerity package represent almost 20 per cent
of GDP: it is this massive effort that various commentators have described as
the ‘sacrifice of the Irish people’. In the initial phase of the austerity package,
2008–10, more or less before the arrival of the IMF–ECB–EC Troika, adjust-
ments amounting to almost 15 billion euros or 10 per cent of GDP were
achieved. The second half of the austerity programme, of the same order of
magnitude, was implemented over 2011–15, the first three of those years
under the supervision of the Troika.
There were three key elements to the Memorandum of Understanding
between the EC and Ireland governing the Programme of Financial Support:
1. Fiscal consolidation, including:
• Increased taxes and introduction of new taxes on property, water, and
carbon;
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 21/10/2016, SPi

6 William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell, and Andrea Prothero

• Reduced government expenditure, including spending on social pro-
tection and cuts to public-sector numbers, pay, and pensions.
2. Financial-sector reforms, entailing:
• Recapitalization and deleveraging of Irish banks;
• Reorganization of the banking sector;
• Burden-sharing by holders of subordinated debt.
3. Structural reforms:
• Facilitate labour market adjustment by reducing the minimum wage
and reforming wage setting arrangements;
• Reform the social protection system, enhance activation measures,
increase incentives to work and strengthen sanctions for non-compliance
with job-search requirements of unemployment benefits;
• Introduce legislation to remove restrictions to trade and competition
in sheltered sectors such as the legal and medical professions.
In addition to fiscal consolidation and financial-sector reforms, the Troika
programme introduced a number of additional elements to the financial
support programme that had the potential to cut prices and wages, and
presumably to restore competitiveness, including a short-lived cut in the
minimum wage, labour market reforms, and removal of restrictive practices
in sheltered sectors, such as the legal and health professions. However, as
several chapters in this book demonstrate, these reforms were pursued with
less vigour, or success, than fiscal consolidation.
It should be noted that the adoption of fiscal retrenchment from very early
in the crisis entailed a return to the previous approach to crisis in the 1980s
which entailed sweeping spending cuts in combination with negotiated wage
restraint. The senior officials in the Department of Finance who oversaw fiscal
consolidation from 2009 onwards would have been more junior civil servants
when Ireland’s earlier experiment with expansionary fiscal contraction was
implemented after 1987, and would have witnessed that strategy seemingly
bear fruit in sustained economic growth and prosperity in the 1990s. Ó Riain,
in Chapter 2, sees this in institutional terms, arguing that Ireland was ham-
pered by external and domestic political and institutional conditions that
favoured austerity.

AL T E R N A TI V E S TO A U S T E R I T Y AN D T HE GE N E S I S
OF THE BAILOUT PROGRAMME

As outlined, the Irish Government resolved early on in the crisis to pursue a

pathway of fiscal austerity. Other responses had been proposed within Ireland
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Beekerstraat op, terug van de Haven, weer naar de
akkers. Achter ’m áán, klonk zachte meisjesstem,
zwak huilerig geroep:

—Foàder!.… foàder!.…

Kees bleef staan, keek om. Dientje was ’t, z’n

dochtertje van negen, met groote mand poonen voor
d’r lijfje. Sleeperig en vermoeid stapte ze uit ’t duister
op ’m àf, bleef kleintjes-stil naast ’m staan.—

—Nou pas van de hoafe!.…

—Joà, foader, ikke hep.… hep veur vaif en sestig sinte

f’rkocht,.… enne.… enne ikke hep.… hullie selle.…
sellefers van Kerkfoart, hoalt,.… mi’ Jans.… hain en
weer foader!.…

—Moar wá’ duufel! je hep veul vroeger thuis kenne

sain.. D’r is nou niks meer van doene op de hoafe!.…

—Joa.… moar.… moar moeder hep.… sait.… hep

sait.… daa’k al de herreberge.… in mos.… toe
heppe.… heppe.… enne sien u.… toen heppe
manne.… main woar opfraite.… enne.… enne.… se
binne dronke weust.… enne.… se heppe d’r vaif
opfraite mi-sonder betoale.… toe hep de kastelain
sait.… enne.… hier.… [33]

Haar stemmetje snikte en hijgde. Ze had zoo bar

gehuild van angst, dat de kastelein ’r de vijf poonen
vergoeden kwam, verzekerend goeiig dat ie ’t wel ’n
keer met ’r vinden zou. En nou kon ze haar verhaal
niet eens eindigen, zoo ontroerd en vermoeid was ze
nog.

Kees voelde de uitputting in ’r snikstemmetje, kreeg

meelij ’n beetje met ’t kind, hield z’n groote stappen in,
dat ze’m beter bij kon houden. Want zóó liep ze zich
uit ’r adem. Maar vertrouwen toch deed ie ’r geen zier.
Dat kreng van nege was al soo duufels valsch vroom
aa’s d’r moer.—

—Gaif main je mand moar hier!.. Nog negotie in?.…

—Nog vaiftien poone.… enne … enne … agt bos

skarre … moar moeder mo’k de sinte gaife.…

Angstig gesmoord klonk ’r stemmetje. Ze dacht dat

Kees ’r wat wou afnemen, in ’r schuwheid niet
begrijpend dat ie ’r ging ontlasten van vracht.

—Hou je bek, snauwde woest-driftig Kees, ik vroag je

sinte nie.… Hep je moer seker-en-sait.… dâ’ je noa je
foader mot-en-soeke in de kroeg.… hee?.…

—Neenet! vast nie!.… vast nie!.… stotterde Dientje,

bangelijk-onzeker. Maar Kees, uit ’r ontdaan
stemgebeef, voelde dat ze loog. Hij zou maar niet
verder vragen.

—En hoe hep Wimpie ’t daàn f’doag?.…

Ongemerkt, had ie weer aangestapt in lange passen,

dat ’t kind hijgend en zuchtend weer àchter ’m aanliep,
met ’r handje in ’r pijnende zij gedrukt.—Zoelte woei
ze van den weg-naar zee, in ’t gezicht. Geur van
meidoorn wellustte zoeter rond, den kant op naar
 Duinkijk, al zoeter, als lag in ’t duinduister een
rozenhof uit te ademen. Diep groendonker azuurde de
lucht, met bleek sterrezaaisel, en suizel-droomrig
zoelde boomgeruisch van alle zijpaadjes áán. Zacht
ging er fluisterkoelte door geblader. Langs de reuk-
zwangere hagen, trilde vochtig-zoele aardgeur,
vloeide uit, wijd uit, in de verzaligde avondrust.

Dientje, bangelijk, gejaagd, slecht ziend op duisteren

weg, voelde hartkloppingen en duizelingen van onrust.
Haar vader had ze niet eens geantwoord.— [34]

—Nou! schreeuwde Kees barsch, dat ze opschrok uit

’r angstmijmer. Niets voelde ie meer van meelij voor
haar kinderzwoeg.—

—Ikke.… wa?.. ikke.. wa?

—Wá’.… wa’.. bauwde ie na, grimmig. Hoe hep

Wimpie ’t daan?.…

—Ikke.… bin tog nie … tuis-en weust … F’morge..

vroeg bi’k mi Jansie na Kerkevoart-en-goan.…
enne.… enne.… so wee’k nies.—Kees zweeg. De
mand schuurde en kraakte langs z’n arm als Dientje in
waggelgangetje er tegen opbotste. Nou rook ie alleen
vischstank van scharren en poonen, die ’m wee
maakte. Gejaagder stapte Dien beensnellend mee,
zonder te durven zeggen dat ze’m niet bijhouen kon.
—Ze had vreeselijke angst Dientje, en hartkloppingen.
D’r vader wou ze ’t wel biechten. Van de zestig
poonen die ze meekreeg van d’r moeder, had ze in
den avond één vette opgepeuzeld, zoo maar van
hongerigheid. Ze wist dat zóó iets ’r moeder dol
maakte van woede. Eens was ze er mee thuisgestapt,
had moeder ’r half lam geranseld in woeste nijdigheid.
—„Jai poone fraite en wullie hongere, dá’ sel dur ’n
mooie worde”, had ze uitgekrijscht en d’r al maar
heviger dooreen gerammeld, dat ’t bloed ’r in de
oogen vlekte. En nou had ze ’t weer gedaan. Heel
vroeg in den ochtend, naar Kerkervaart loopend, had
ze’n paar hompen brood meegekregen, voor den
heelen dag.—Tegen den middag, toen Jansie naar
huis was gegaan, had zij wat bij den weg gebedeld en
pompwater òpgezogen uit d’r klompje. Maar toen ’s
avonds, heel laat, aan de donkere, woelige Haven,
tusschen al het gerij, gehos, geschreeuw en geratel in,
voelde ze zich zoo wee en hongerig, dat ze ’t niet
langer bedwingen kòn.

Eer ze ’t goed wist, had ze ’n poon, ’n klein vettertje

van twee cent uit ’r mand gescheurd, angstig
omgekeken, ’n beet in z’n kop gegeven en zoo
smakkend en zuigend, tot de glimmige vette velletjes
toe, afgezogen en òpgeslikkerbikt. Reuk van groenten,
geur van vruchten en drankstank hadden ’r geprikkeld
en beduizeld. Maar zoodra ze’m òpvoelde begon
[35]angst en berouw in ’r te woelen. Want èlke cent
moest ze verantwoorden. Moeder telde precies alles
àf. En nou had ze ’t weer gedaan. Ze durfde niet,
durfde niet naar binnen. Razende angst deed ’r beven.
—Haar hart klopte en hamerde in ’r keel. Niets voelde
ze meer van beenenmoeheid, van snellen sjok en
uitputting. Alleen maar angst, zenuwangst voor ’r
moeder, ’r grootmoeder, die er zich ook in bemoeien
zou. Toen ze Kees wat zeggen wou, vooruit al
eigenlijk twee centen vragen om bij te leggen, stonden
ze vlak voor ’t krot, kon ze geen woord meer eruit
krijgen van bevende, stikkende benauwing en
bedremmeling. [36]

[Inhoud]
 TWEEDE HOOFDSTUK.

De aardbeipluk was ophanden. Nog wel niet in één de

groote haal, maar toch, als ’t ochtendgloorde, ’t land
nog in grauwen dauw dampte en langzaam,
brandroode nevel boven de verre, vaal aangroenende
akkers uitkleurde, morgengloed door doodstille
luchten sintelde,—dan hurkten, vóór zonnebol zelf
òpvuurde, de tuinders al tusschen de nauwe paadjes,
omkringd van kinders, jongens en meisjes; was er al
druk gesjok en gesjouw van één naar anderen hoek,
om arbeid te verdeelen tusschen eigen zwerm en
vreemde plukkersknechten.

De eerste haal zette in, met zware zonnedaverende

hitte. Na de kleur-orgie van tulpenbrand en òpbloei
van hyacinten, was nu plots bij hoeken hier en daar op
Duinkijksche akkers, even vóór den pluk, wondere zee
van hoog-gele en paars-blauwe irissen, goud-geel
beschubd, komen aangolven over ’t land. Klein was de
teelt, op ènkele akkers, maar hoog de pracht van den
in licht-dauw omzeefden paars-blauwen irissenbrand.

Graanhalm-hoog moireerden in golving van stengels,

akkers weer, als in herbloei van hyacinten en tulpen,
paarsblauwe en goudrandig geschubde. Achter en
tusschen de hevige paars-zee, bloeiden helgouden
pronkbekers van licht; welde glans, hooge brand als
van graanvelden, duizelend, spartelend, kokend-hoog
goud met brokken ertusschen, moireerend naar
 geelgoud, tegen de diepe golfzee van schitter
paarsblauw, in ’t groene akkerland.

Als mythische stad in zonnedroom, met één slag door

Satan neergetooverd in duivelszwaai van bloedrooden
mantel en vampiergebaar van z’n armen, was
herrezen dáár, uit eerst [37]groene, stil-mijmerende
aarde, een lichtfeest, een tooi, in woesten kleuren-
wellust; herrezen een mythische stad, volgestort van
sprokelicht, van nevel en vonken dooréén; stad, met
wegjes van enkel stralend vuurgoud.—Zoo in
wondrengloei, rankten en slankten de irissen, op ’n
vloer van bevende glansen.—Uit de stille grasaarde,
tusschen het nog dorrende loof, drong een òpstand
van vreemd-starende bloemwezens, zonnedronken
onder de warme uitgeuring van hun kleur-heete zielen.

Als in hemelspraak met ’t azuur, gedrenkt in ’t blauw

van uitspansel, bleven ze daar wiegelen de gekleurde
zielen, de vreemd starende bloemwezens,
samengestald in hun mythische stad van licht,
stralend paars en goud, in daverenden zonnezang van
akkers.

Boven hen wisselden de luchten, groeiden en

stapelden òp de wolksteden in zilverende lichtglansen,
verduisterend de bloemenpracht, verbrokkelend den
zonnedroom. En fijn schuimde er doorheen, ’t zilte
zilver van den polderhemel, wazig en gebroken in
glanzende neveling. En weer later, in satansgebaar
neergetooverd, rankte en wiegelde op andere akkers,
rond de irissen, dooreenwemelende bloei van kleur-
wisselende anemonen.—Eén dans van
 kleurebloempjes, op rank-teere stengels,
kopjesknikkend en wiegelend in windspel. Eén
kankaneeren van donkerdiep dahliarood, rouw-fluweel
met paars-purp’ren starren. Eén rondedans van
korenblauw met zonnegoud, één sliertige omhelzing
van roze bloemekopjes met goud-rood en oranje
wezentjes.—Eén regening en zegening van
doorééngewaaide kleurtjes, lichtjes, vlammetjes en
brandjes, in vurige kleuren-kelkjes verfonkelend.—

Zoo gloeiden de anemonenbedden, tusschen de

simpele teelt van erwten, wortels, sla en rhabarber, als
een hageling van zomerkleuren, verpurperend en
vergouend, verpaarsend en verblauwend de akkers, in
jubelenden schitter en diep-geurende gloeiende
zonnigheid. Zóó, als voorspel op den aardbeihaal,
tusschen de vruchtjes in, bachanaalde ’t dronken iris-
en anemonefeestje, in toover van licht, in
zwijmelenden zonnedroom.

De hoog-groene aardbeiakkers, zilverend in

lichtglanzen, [38]overal ingesloten tusschen de goud-
groene doorzonde hagentrofee van bladeren,
doordarteld van glansen en vonkjes, juichten in den
opbloei der vruchtjes.

Overal gloeiden in warme purpering de spitsige

kogeltjes op zandgrond, die paarsig brandde van
hette, naast heele bedden onrijpe amazonen, als
beschilderde vruchtjes, flauw aan éen kant
roodgevlekt tusschen het lage bladerdiep.—

Op de akkers hurkten neergezwermd, plukkers en

pluksters in ’t woelige kleurgewiegel van hun kleeren,
 en overal was druk gedrentel en mandjesgesjouw,
overal volgepropte bakken die verdragen werden uit
zon.—Naast de akkers van Ouë Gerrit, hurkte in
halven kring, kinderenzwerm van oom Hassel, in vale,
voddige kleeren. Al z’n gespuis, tot ’n meisje van
zeven, had ie aan ’t plukken gezet, in zwijmelkoortsige
jacht, om te halen, te hàlen, hooger prijs te maken,
anderen voor te zijn met goed, wel wetend dat de
sterke werkmacht van al die rappe handjes, snel in
pluk en grabbel, hèm niets kostte.

Werkroes koortste door Duinkijk en Wiereland. Elke

minuut van langen ademhaal, rustend, was verlies.
Koopers joegen, bemiddelaars joegen, bazen joegen
hun kinders, los volk en vaste plukkers joegen elkaar.

Oom Hassel schreeuwde naar ’n troepje meisjes, dat

inhurkte tusschen de nauwe aardbeipaadjes, in felle
gloeizon:

—Denk d’r’an, jullie niks aa’s soete fransies!.. en

Emmetjes.. mi sonder doppies.. en f’noàfed éers de
halfe raipe in sloffies! De kinders stemmedrukten en
joelden uitgelaten terug, dat ’t goed was, nog
vroolijkend in ’t vroeg-landelijke ochtenduur, blij niet op
de schoolbanken te zitten, den heelen pluktijd door.—

Vóór ingehurkten kniebuk uit, grabbelden hun handjes

tusschen de groen-zilveren lichthuivering van
bladeren, zoekend en tastend naar de rijpe vruchtjes,
die bloedden in vochtig fonkelrood, puntig
doorspikkeld van gouden spatjes. Licht purperden en
hoogrood glansden in speelsche gloedjes en vonken
de aardbeien in de brons-zanderige kinderknuistjes;
 handjes vol zoet-geurende vruchtjes, gloeiend in
zonneschitter. Telkens, [39]de palmpjes volgeplukt,
kogelden ze de vruchtjes voorzichtig in de brons-
teenen mandjes, donkere zuiltjes, volgestapeld in
speelsch gebaar, met vuur.—

—He’ je nog mandjes doar? schreeuwde ’n plukker.

’n Kleine meid, in rood verflodderd en gescheurd kort

rokje, losgehaakt op den rug, dat wit ondergoed en
baleintjes er door heenschemerden, smeet mandjes
door de paadjes àchter plukkersklompen, in joligen
zwiep van ’r kinderarmpjes. Ze speelde er mee,
gooide maar òp, te veel, dat de broers om ’r heen
vloekten. In krommen hurk schoven de plukkers voort,
op de knel-nauwe paadjes, die zandig-heet lila-paars
schemerden tusschen het groen, elk klaargeplukt
mandje opgestapeld met „kòp”, achter hun hielen
neerbouwend.—

Tusschen al de paadjes van de verre akkers slangden

de donker- en lichtroode vruchtjes in lage
mandzuiltjes, zoetelijk geurend en vervochtend in de
grove plukkershanden, die doortastten maar, onder ’t
loof, telkens òpdiepten met de vuile vingers de
vuurvonkende kogeltjes. Zóó, achter de ingehurkte
plukkende lijven, vlamden de volgepropte mand-
zuiltjes in karmijnen brand, in donkere en licht-
gloeiende omzooming van de hèl-groen bladerige
bedden; lange roode zuil-gangetjes, vurig van
lijngolving in heet zonnegoud, in trillende hittesfeer,
omzeefd van dampig licht, nevelig van rooden gloed,
overal tusschen het frisch-joelende jubelgroen en ’t
 zilverspatten van zon-natte bladeren. Geuren van
grond en vruchten, zwijmelden en wellustten rond uit
den blank-gouden, blauw-diepen hemel; zwijmel van
reuken en sappen. Rood bevlekt en besapt graaiden
overal de geweldige barsche plukklauwen der
werkers, vervuild en doorgroefd van aardwroet,
tusschen het jonge heete aardbeienbloed. En nat van
sappen, walmden zacht de kleine zonnig verbronsde
kinderknuistjes tusschen lichtrood en dieprood,
tusschen vuur dat laaide en vonkte, en karmijn dat
sintelde, lekte, smeulde.

Door héél Duinkijk en Wiereland vonkte, spatte en

purperde ’t rood van aardbei, tusschen de groen-
flonkerende omhaagde hoeken; spartelden de handjes
gezwollen van greep en pluk, [40]ging één zoet-zalige
stroom van rooden geurdamp zwoel over de akkers.

Guurt en Dirk plukten gelijk op, aan één bed, Kees, de

Ouë en Piet, ’n anderen hoek uit. Ouë Gerrit had al
heel vroeg gedaan bij de nieuwe familie op ’t plaatsje.
Nou zat ie gretig mee te plukken. Z’n rug brak ’m wel,
pijnde en stak als werden er naalden ingeboord, maar
daar gaf ie niks om. ’t Moest, moèst nou. ’n
Daggeldersloon viel er zoo wel uit te winnen. De
kerels zouden ’m ook anders te lijf gaan. Z’n knieën tot
op de borst ingehurkt, bij de kin wegknellend z’n
baard, grabbelde ie met twee handen te gelijk, trillerig
in z’n beenen, ’t loof omwoelend, de vruchtjes vlug
neerkogelend in z’n mandje, zonder ze te kneuzen
toch.
Hij gromde stil, dat ’r van z’n vervreten hoek rijp geen
eetbaar vruchtje terecht was gekomen. Schade van
honderden!.… Dá’ stopte ie zoo nooit.. hoho! hoho!—
Woedend was ie ook dat z’n rooie kool zoo slecht
stond.—Nou had ie op ’n lekker sonnig hoekie soaid,
van s’n swoarsten grond, bestig bemest, en nou
stonge se krek aa’s stokkies, deurvrete van
oardevlooi.… En nog meer!.… s’n uitjes.. stonge
slecht.. tedicht op malkoar soait.… weer skult van
Piet.… hep ’t soo wille.… enne.… van de
somerandaifie.. kwam ook nie veul.… most nou al ’n
beetje gele kop hewwe!.… skuld van die f’rekt slechte
woàteràfvoer.…

—Hee Ouë, denk ’r ’an, dá’ jai strak-en-an die hoek

overnaimp! Ik mó’ nog bosse veur f’nòafed.… hai hep
de mande, veur àftetarre an de hoàfe.…

Ouë Gerrit had zich naar Dirk gedraaid, die ’m uit

erwtenpad toeschreeuwde. Schroeiend begloeide de
zon akkerruim, dat hette uitdampte. In één bukkenden
hurk, van knie op knie, schoven de werkers voort
tusschen het prachtgroen, vervuild van zweet en
martelenden pluk, met den steekbrand van zon op
nekken en ruggen. Boven de aardbeibedden stond de
lucht, blauwe jubel van uitspansel, stil van zoete
geuren. In wierook gedrenkt, zwangerde de aarde van
reuken, heimweevol en zalig. Met moeite zwierven
klankgeruchten van straatjes [41]en lanen òver naar
akkers, door de geurnevelen héén.—

In één kniel- en bukstand schoven ze voort, werkers

en kinders, zonder òpzien. Met wat vluchtige happen
 was de voorschaft gedaan, en dadelijk weer stonden
ze klaar, opgejaagd met ’t broodpaffe nog in hun
maag; liepen ze uit schaduwluwte, koelend groen van
’n haag, naar de gloeibedden terug, kniegebukt weer,
op heet-zandige paadjes.

Ze voelden wel, de werkers, dat ’t nu ging om hun

rust, hùn bestaan. Als de eerste haal maar
voorbijbroeide, was er van zelf weer ’n dagje kalmer
pluk uit de onstuimige aankolking van werkhaast en
ploeterjacht.

Elken dag kwam zonneschroei heeter neerdaveren

over de akkers, die droog-stoffig smachtten naar
lafenis, en vroèger in den morgen wroetten de
tuinders op de zengende vlakte, onder ’t neerkokende
licht, in opjagender grabbel tusschen hun aardbeien;
de handen voller van vuur-fonkelende vruchtjes, die al
dièper of hoòger kleurden in zonnelaai, donker
bloedden of lichter bevlamden de aarde, in stil-
ziedend rood, verstapeld in de vurige zuil-mandjes, als
vloeide boven de akkers ènkel heet spel van purper
en goudgroenen vochtigen weerschijn.—

Eindelijk was de groote haal ingevallen. Ouë Gerrit

had van z’n berijpte akkers niets gehaald. De vrucht
was niet gezet, stond er wormstekig en puisterig
flauw-rood. Tòch zou ie ze beet nemen.—Maar z’n
andere jonge hoeken, ’t vorige jaar pas ingerankt,
stonden mooi vol, maakten dat ie niet al te zwaar
gromde. En gelijk-áán werkte ie met de jongens op ’t
land, gelijk ging ie met ze heen.—De hitte deed ’m
 zich plezierig, lèkker voelen en ’t geld dat inkwam
gulzigde naar meer.

Z’n steelzucht begon wat te koelen in de hitte van den

werkroes, en z’n eigen gebroken karkas, voelde ie
alleen ’s avonds verschroeid op bed, als z’n vrouw
naast ’m lag te puffen en te snorken met ’r
lippenblaas. Even, nu en dan, bromde er wel wilde lust
tot gannefen in ’m, maar de akkers stonden vol
werkvolk, overal had je oogen nòu. Zoo temperde z’n
begeerte [42]van zelf in de plukjacht, in de zekere
opstapeling van de centen, dàn in die, dàn in ’n
anderen kasthoek, dat de jongens niet wisten wààr.
Alleen Guurt mocht ’t zien.—

—Manskappe, f’doag allainig ònraipe!.. in de

sloffies.…

Gain raipe hoho!.… die naim tie puur nie.… had de

Ouë, om half vier uit huis, in den ochtend ’t land
opstappend, gezeid tegen de jongens.

Vroeg al zengde de zon, dat ’t zand onder hun heete,

van strakken zit gekneusde knieën brandde.

Guurt, met ’r zwaar lijf tusschen de bedjes geperst, in

’n oud-blauw jak en dof rooien onderrok, smeet de
goudlichte slofjes vóór haar de paadjes in, achter de
hielen van de knielende plukkers. Haar strooien
breed-gerande hoed, hoepelde scheef, met ’n zwart
bandje, gesnoerd om ’r blanke kin en los rond de
ooren, spinragde fijnste goud van ’r harenkrul uit.—
Ouë Gerrit keek nu en dan onrustig rond of ’r wel
achtereen gewerkt werd, naar Guurt en Piet en naar
 twee nieuwe plukkers, die hij nog met moeite
gekregen had.

Oom Hassel plukte in mandjes met z’n kinderzwerm

rondom in kruip en hurk tusschen de bedjes. Eén kerel
liep tusschen de paadjes in, gaarde de mandjes
bijéén, stapelde ze in groote houten bakken op ’n kar,
aan den wegkant. Eerst nog moesten ze naar huis
gereden en in den avond, naar de haven gebracht.
Bak aan bak dáár op de kar, hijgde rooden adem uit,
zoeten wierook. Bakbrokken, hàlf nog in zon, met de
bronzen, hooge mandjes-opstapeling, gloeiden fel-
rood, vloeiende bloed-glansen, in ’t groen geblaar
verdoken. Andere uit zon, in luwte-haag van schaduw,
verdampten karmijn, in gesmoord passie-rood.
Daartusschen in, schakeerden de bakken in zangerig
purper, diep en vroom, waarop weer nieuwe kisten
neèrgesmakt werden, met zwaren adem, rood van
opstand; vruchtbakken inzuigend ’t licht, rood-donker
en diep als het smarte-hart van duister-fluweelen
dahlia.—Telkens meer plukkers stapelden kisten òp,
onder en naast hagen, met sla en wortelen, maar alles
weer overstapeld door aardbeigloei, dat ’t klaterde en
smeulde, hel-daverde en zong, ’t rood, ’t goud-
doorvonkte [43]vruchtpurper, tusschen het rondom
dringende uitwasemende groen, het goudgroen van
boom en hagen.—

Overal verspreid, langs de akkers, zetten kleur-

kleeren van plukkers, sjofel en gehavend, maar in
pracht-koloriet er toonhoog in versmeltend, warmte en
diepte tusschen groen en hemelblauw; waasde er
zeef-fijn, gouddampend licht, een sfeer van bevende
uitwisselende glansen òver den pluk-arbeid héén, die
de werkers verheiligde in den geweldigen ernst van
hun ploeter; wiegden en wuifden ’n licht-brio rond, die
vèr, heel ver wègschoof wat dichtbij lag, als week ’t
landschap, in de trilling van lichtdampen, geuren en
glansen, onder den zonnedaver en hittenevel telkens
meer en meer achteruit, àl achteruit.—

Drie kleintjes van oom Hassel, tengere meisjes, lagen

ingekneld met blond-strooien hoedjes, verbogen als
leger-des-Heils-kiepjes, met witte bandjes om blanke
kinnetjes gesnoerd, stil te plukken, ’t kokende
zongesteek en lichtgegolf op hun kleurige bradende
ruggetjes.—Ze hurkten, knielden van knie op knie, en
kreunden soms van pijn.

—Ik kâ nie meer van main stuut, kermde één, pijn-

vertrokken rechtòp spannend ’t lijfje in ’r rood jakje, dat
de borstjes zwollen, ’t kleine gezichtje even uitdook
onder hoeddiepte. Suffig bleef ze uitkijken, een knuisje
in de rugstuit gedrukt.

—Nou seg, mô’ je main knieë voele.… die binne

heuldegoar deur t’met.

—Seur jullie tog nie!.. de son is ’n kwoaje veur ons..

en d’r is nog ’n heule doàg, zei wrevelig de oudste, ’n
ruk naar beneden gevend aan den rand van ’r
zonnehoed, de twee klagenden met gebaren
opporrend te werken.

Zachter wrevelde ’r stem na:

 —Kaik! Willem loert al.… aa’s ie jullie in de goàte
kraigt.. bin jullie d’r bai.… bai foader!.…

De kleine, die ’t eerst geklaagd had over rugpijn bleef

droomerig ’t bedje afstaren, ’r knietjes verhit en pijn-
zwaar onder ’t tengere lijfje, speelsch de vuurlijn van
purperende mandjes, vòòr haar padje, met ’r knuistje
voor de oogen, brekend.—Gedachteloos [44]at ze wat
aardbeien uit ’r hand òp, plukkend onderwijl door,
zonder ’r naar te zien, nog speelscher in kinder-
luimigheid òpkaatsend snel achteréen, wat vruchtjes
boven ’r hoofd, roodglanzende kogeltjes, vurig de
luchtblauwte in, dat ’t vochtrood spiraalde boven ’r
schalks gezichtje. Als vlammige kurketrekkertjes
puntten de vruchtjes nèer op ’r smoezelige blanke
handjes, die dropen van aardbei-bloed. Maar gauw,
met ’n angst-woesten duw in ’r rug en ’n snauw van
ouder zusje òver ’t bed naar ’r toegebogen, hurkte ze
weer in, grabbelden ’r pootjes tusschen het groen van
’t bladerengewoel, telkens vòller van fonkelend roode
vruchtjes, ze voorzichtig neerkogelend in de mandjes.

De groote plukkers, mannen en meiden, knielden en

hurkten, telkens wisselend van knie en houding, in
gloeipijn niet meer wetend, hoe te graaien; schoven
voort, zwijgend in koortsigen arbeid, in stommen
worstel tegen de kookzon, die doorzengde, brandend
op hun koppen, nekken en rug, dat hun goed heet
verschuurde op ’t naakte zweetlijf. Vèr, òver hun
dampende gemartelde koppen, bleef blauwen zalig
azuur, tot achter zwoeg van verste plukkers. Gestalten
in buk, kruipend over de akkers, vernevelden daar in
hitteviolet, floersig en barnend. En tusschen hen in,
joelden geuren en kleuren, in de klare zuiverte van het
eindloos hooger en hooger vertintlend blauw,
doorschijnend en rein als albast.—Tusschen het groen
ging paars-korte schaduw op den grond van
werklijven, die bewogen of sjouwden, bak ààn bak àf;
ging licht wiegel en gouden heete trillingen van losse
groenteranken, pal in ’t zonnevuur verterend,
smeltend weer in zilveren afkaatsing, vergloeiend op
kantblaadjes van hagen. En telkens ànders weer lag ’t
land geblakerd en schroeiend gezoend aan de kanten,
als spel van windkringen door boomkruinen
heenwuifde, verblindende warreling van waterval-
goudgespat tusschen bladeren-bogen neerstortte òver
de paars-dampende hitteaarde. Telkens uit andere
hoeken, vervluchtigde kwinkeleerende jubel van
vogels, tierelierende zangers op lucht-fluiten, met
cierfijnen fladder, donker scherend ’t hemeldiepe,
blauw-roerlooze in. En soms, [45]beefde zachtjes en
fijn, als enkel cierkronkelig lijntje van geluid, klaar
kinderstemmetje òp in zang, achter hagengroei,
ontroerend en dartel tegelijk.—

Achter Kees en Piet in pracht-roode rijen kronkelden

de slofjes áán als blank gevlochten goud, ’t
vruchtenvuur brekend in gloed, tusschen groen.
Gaterig en bleek vlekten de onrijpe aardbeien
ertusschen. Voorbij de vuur-omzooming van de groen-
glanzende bedjes, tusschen ’t gevlam en geknetter
van ’t doorzonde karmijn, liepen de kerels drukker met
bakken áán en af.

—Snôf’rjenne Guurt, jai plukt te raip, schreeuwde Dirk

onthutst.… sullie naime f’rdomme soo nie.… motte
 onderweg puur-en-raipe.… ’t is veur Duijtsland.. hep
de Ouë nog soò sait.…

—Dà’ te raip?!.. Wel neenet! Hullie binne.…

—Debies! seg moar heé? Kaik dan sellefers.… kaik

die!.. kaik diè!..

Dirk in rood-driftig zweetgezicht òvergebukt naar

Guurt, wroette met z’n grove vuile handen in d’r mand,
perste driftig wat aardbei fijn tusschen z’n vingers, dat
’t sap ’m langs de polsen droop.

—Nou.. daa’s ook alles.. moar kaik.. die!.. die!.. sain

puur groene buikies.…

—Daa’s net.… f’rjenne, je knaipt hoarlie t’met tû moes!

paa’s tog op maid.. blaif d’r òf.… ikke lief dá’ nie.…

—Wá’ ’n hupla’s die hep!.. sou je nie!.. sou je nie!.…

—Seur tug nie Dirk! lá’ ’r dur gangetje!.… gromde de

Ouë van z’n bed af, bang dat Guurt er den boel bij zou
neersmijten. Elk jaar nog had ze verdraaid te plukken.
En nou, in ’n gril, gewillig deed ze mee, om wat extra
centen voor de kermis te beuren. F’rduufeld, nou
gonge de kerels ’r koejeneere, bromde ouë Gerrit.—
Dirk had naar ’m omgekeken, zonder te antwoorden,
z’n rood bevochte vuile handen, loom op z’n knieën
afhangend, z’n gezicht verzengd pal in zongepriem.
Roode vlekken dropen van z’n blauwe kiel en z’n
blond-wit haar [46]plakte op z’n stompe voorhoofd in
zweetkrul, onder de pet uit. En telkens even, in
lodderigen oogstaar, probeerde ie òp te kijken naar de
 zon, maar dadelijk knipperde ie z’n oogen dicht, paf
van ’t felle gepiek dat er inboorde, voelde hij zich blind
gegooid met kokend licht. Z’n vuile broek stonk van
smeer en zweet, zurig tusschen het geurzoet. Voort
maar schoof ie weer in zwijg, niets begrijpend meer
van den Ouë, waar die pas ze toegeschreeuwd had,
vooral geen rijpe te plukken. En stiller den
werkmiddag rond, schoof ie verder, voelde ie ’t
woestijngloeiende zand onder z’n knieën schroeien en
branden, verbukte en verwisselde ie telkens van knie,
als er één, gekneusd en vergloeid, z’n zware paffe lijf
niet meer dragen kon.

—God f’rdorie, geeuwde Piet, daa’s ’n kwoaje.… die

son f’doag! main nek stoan puur in brand!.…

—Dá’ sou’k denke, je weê puur nie meer hoe je kruipe

mot …

—Debies! main knieë sain deurmidde.… aa’s ’k

katteliek waa’s lie’k main stempele! galgenhumorde
een plukker half schuin naar ’n makker, die meezong
Zondagsavond’s in de kongregatie.—

Dirk, in den winter nooit sprekend van den zwaarsten

zwoeg, morde, giftte nou, in verhitte worsteling tegen
de zon, die ’m roosterde en martelde, waartegen ie ’n
woesten haat voelde. Z’n rug stond den heelen dag in
brand, z’n nek stramde verlamd in steekpijnen van
voortdurenden buk en z’n branderige schonken
schuurden jeukerig tegen z’n vuil heet afgesjokkerd
baai goed. Guurt schreeuwde dat ie moar s’n laif d’rais
most boene, mi’ wa’ woater.…