Leaders, Accountability, and the People They Represent
Every so often, I feel the need to step back from my usual topics and write something that’s been niggling away in the back of my mind for a while. This post isn’t about woodcraft, or even the day-to-day struggles of running a small business, although in some ways, it’s connected.
It’s about leadership and how those who are meant to represent us are often doing the exact opposite these days. Sometimes it looks like obliviousness, but more often, it feels like something else.
Since 2020, I’ve watched politicians across the western world — Ireland included — make decisions that feel less like leadership and more like submission or following the bidding of others. The language they use suggests they’re protecting us, guiding us, and looking after our national interests but too often it has the same condescending tone you’d use to hush or lecture a child.
The reality of what they say and promise, from where I sit, is very different.
Bit by bit, sovereignty has been handed away. Decisions that should belong to individual nations, and to the people within them, have instead been aligned with supranational bodies and unelected organisations. It’s as though our leaders have forgotten who they work for & represent, and it isn’t Brussels, Davos, or any other international forum. It’s us. The Ordinary people of Ireland.
Funding Without Accountability
I’ll admit, before the Covid restrictions I didn’t really know what an NGO was. With time on my hands, I started reading and to say I was horrified by the scale of what the Irish government funds would be an understatement. It feels like a way of doing things quietly, almost hidden from public view, without the accountability or oversight that should come with spending public money.
Today, there are said to be around 34,000 non-profit NGOs in Ireland, with state support for the sector running to about €6.2 billion. It isn’t even clear how many of them actually receive state aid, but given the size of that figure, I suspect it’s quite a lot.
I added the image deliberately to this post. The Irish tricolour will always mean more to me than any speech or policy. It’s a reminder of who we are, and who politicians are supposed to serve.
Writing pieces like this is part of how I keep my business visible and my thoughts clear. If you’d like to try the same, here’s my guide to blogging for your small business.
The View from a Small Business
It’s impossible for me not to see these goings on through the lens of a small business owner. Across Ireland, independent shops and family-run businesses are closing down on a near daily basis. Some lasted generations but couldn’t survive the perfect storm of rising costs, rising energy prices, increased red tape, lack of government support and the pressure of competing with multinationals that seem to play by a different set of rules.
Every week it seems, another shopfront that’s been open since the formation of the Irish Free State goes dark. I feel a pang of shame and sorrow for every one of these announcements, I wonder do the politicians feel the same?
The Deck is Stacked Against Us
Running a small business has never been easy, but right now it feels like the deck is stacked higher than ever. Business bills get more expensive, and yet customers still have less and less in their pockets every year and the Tourists stay away a little bit more every year.
The “support” packages that get rolled out are rarely designed with the smallest businesses in mind. They often suit larger operations, or they come with conditions so restrictive that the average sole trader or family shop can’t realistically access them.
Fragile Economies of Small Towns
What’s missing in all the grand speeches and policy launches is a genuine recognition of how fragile local economies have become. Without small businesses, towns and communities lose their heart — the butcher, the bookshop, the café, the craft shop. When these places close, what’s left is often a row of empty shutters and a town centre that feels hollow. That’s not just an economic problem, it’s a social one.
My home town of Tralee used to have sole trader shops lining both sides of the main street. Many are gone now, replaced by Cash-for-Gold shops, pound shops and phone cover shops. These plastic stores add no value to a town whatsoever.
And still, there’s very little urgency in tackling it. Politicians talk about entrepreneurship and “supporting local” as if repeating the phrase is enough. There is silence from them with all these closures happening in the background. It must not be important enough for them.
But words don’t keep the lights on in a shop or help a business weather a tough month. Action does — and it’s sorely lacking. I thought the tax take would be way down this summer due to lack of tourists but I was sickened to hear that it's actually up. Multi-nationals, big pharma inflate our GDP numbers so that we look like a very rich country when in fact the opposite is true. Come down to the ground with me and see for yourself.
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Electricity Costs
One of the most important issues for most businesses today is the cost of power in their businesses. Electricity is another sore point. Prices shot up at record speed at the beginning of the war in Ukraine — yet they’ve barely fallen since, even as production costs eased. Where’s the accountability?
If the cost of producing has come down, ESB rates should follow at the same rate should they not? I've heard some awful stories of businesses receiving bills in the thousands for only a two month cycle. Who can sustain this?
The Cost of Simply Moving Goods
Another issue hitting us all, whether we trade or not, is shipping. The cost of moving goods — nationally and internationally — has soared, but there’s barely a whisper about it in the political arena.
For those of us importing raw materials or exporting finished goods, the situation is crippling. Couriers raise their rates every year, fuel surcharges are quietly added monthly, and cross-border fees sneak in even when they’re not justified. For a small business sending out a parcel, there’s no negotiating power — you pay what you’re told, or you don’t ship. In the meantime, the customers expect the shipping bill to be lower than your current rate or for you to pay it and ship for free.
Abandoned Carts Tell a Story
Customers feel it too. More than once, I’ve had someone abandon a purchase because the delivery charge pushed their total past what they were comfortable paying. And who can blame them? When a handcrafted Irish product ends up costing more to ship within Ireland than it does for Amazon to deliver something from across Europe, something is badly broken.
High shipping costs don’t just hurt businesses like mine, they create a two-tier market. Multinationals can absorb the costs, strike deals with couriers, or offset them in ways we simply can’t. Small operators, on the other hand, are forced to either pass the cost on to customers or swallow the hit themselves. Either way, it erodes our ability to compete, to grow, and in some cases, to survive.
And yet, despite the impact on trade, consumer prices, and even inflation, this problem is brushed aside as though it doesn’t exist. No serious effort has been made to rein in unfair courier practices or to put systems in place that genuinely support small-scale sellers. It’s one of the many unglamorous issues that rarely makes a headline — but it affects almost everyone.
The Flags Will Fly
The new surge of nationality is rising all across Ireland, the UK and Europe and will only grow larger. This is a direct response to politicians doing what they want instead of listening to their constituents. We are all fed up of being called far right and racist when we are only worried about what we see all around us and how politicians are completely looking the other way.Accountability Will Come
What frustrates me most isn’t just the decisions themselves but the attitude that comes with them. There’s a contempt in it — a quiet assumption that we, the public, are too distracted, too busy, too powerless or dare I say, too stupid to notice. But people do notice. And they remember.
Nations have long memories of the past. Have you not met an Irish person before?
I think back to the lockdowns of 2020, when small businesses were told to shut their doors “for the greater good,” while multinational chains found loopholes to stay open. That double standard has never really gone away. Since then, the gap between what’s promised and what’s delivered has only widened.
Leaders may believe they’re safe behind party lines, media spin, or vague assurances. But history has always been the final judge of leadership. It records the brave, the cowardly, and those who simply followed along.
To the politicians of Ireland, and to many in the wider west: history is recording what you are doing, and it will not be kind to those who chose to follow other masters.
Conclusion
Believe it or not, I had to hold myself back when writing this post. If you see steam rising from the screen, I was somewhat successful. This post was not meant to be a rant but I had to say something about the state of out country and the West in general.
At the end of the day, I’ll always choose to stand with the people, not the politicians.
If you feel the same way, feel free to drop a comment below.
Thanks for Reading,
David
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About the Author
I’m David Condon, a blog writer and small business owner based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. After years of working for myself in woodcraft and teaching woodturning, I started this blog to share ideas, experiences, and finds that go beyond the workshop and sometimes I move beyond those to express an opinion or two. This is one of those rare posts....
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💬 Note from the AuthorThis is a brand new post, written specially for Blogger. If you’ve enjoyed it, feel free to explore some of the other posts here — or check out my main site, David Condon Woodcraft, where I focus more on woodturning and handmade pieces.
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