Is there irony that a story about Potemkin Villages in Ireland has the following?
Just a few weeks ago, Flanagan’s – a former butcher’s and vegetable shop in the neat village – was cleaned and repainted with bespoke images of a thriving business placed in the windows. Any G8 delegate passing on the way to discuss global capitalism would easily be fooled into thinking that all is well with the free-market system in Fermanagh. But, the facts are different.
My questions for the author of this screed, Mr. Dan Keenan, are:
(1) Mr. Keenan, please provide some evidence that there is anything resembling a “free-market system” in Fermanagh or anywhere else in that country. I note that later in your article you discuss departments and councils making choices about spending other peoples’ money and deciding “authorisation for improvements.” Notably, not the “free-market system” at work there.
(2) Mr. Keenan, perceiving that you are opposed to the “free-market system” by your negative tone discussing it (in passing), shall we assume you would prefer to be compelled by government to produce some good and that I or another person be compelled to purchase it? What does that make you?