This is Ireland
by
Marty MulliganThis is inspireland,
This is desireland
This is for hireland,
This is legal quagmireland,
This is aspireland,
this is conspireland,
This is buyerland,
For some this is direland
This is how we went
from the land of saints and scholars,
To the land of concrete, shopping malls
Gang lands and a fistful of dollars.
And I'm pissed off being ripped off,
I'm fed up with prices that are just made up,
But what gets me most is some people's sheer greed,
Since Uncle Sam came to sow the every man for himself seed.
This is for hireland
Where they'll walk all over and break the back of the common man land,
Make them work all of the hours, just to survive and get by,
"We've never had it so good is the resounding spin of a familiar lie,
As the haves and the have nots live totally different lives,
With more sucking on the fat, others scrape to get by,
This is build as many houses as fast as you can land,
Six hundred in a field beside a town will be grand land,
With no proper facilities or safe places for children to play,
Except for warehouses with climbing frames where you're obliged to pay.
This is double the population of a town in five years land,
Invade an environment and increase a communities fear land,
Countless new faces, accents, languages, people to get used to,
Suddenly no one seems to know anyone, and all become more suspicious too,
A population explosion bringing too many changes in too short a time,
Bringing unmanageable increases in traffic,
services, school places,tension, stress levels, crime.
This is aspireland.
The bigger car, the bigger house, the more expensive furniture you require land,
Filling all the hours God sends with earning and buying,
No time to take care of your children, the elderly, the weak or the dying,
With children suffering from obesity, to even think that this is happening today,
Pump them up and slim them down, at either end they pay,
As cosmetic surgeons fly in and line up to lift up our jaded selves,
Buying plastic with plastic, a new look straight off the shelves,
Obviously blissfully unaware of the real suffering that's around them,
In their ivory towers, high walls and cameras that surround them.
This is conspireland.
As criminals and terrorists, terrorise and organise without detection,
While people live in fear of their lives without adequate police protection,
where binge drinking and substance abuse is getting seriously out of hand,
with bargain priced booze advertised and sold at every second stand.
As an alarming number of people find it increasingly difficult to cope,
Spiralling suicide figures, telling the tale of those who've lost all hope.
This is the flip side of the changes brought to our land,
It's time for our leaders to take a closer look, so they fully understand,
The needs of Ireland, Inspireland, Desireland.
This is for hireland.
Where they'll pay you barely by the hour land,
With no choice but to take it or the tiger will devour you land.
As they churn out contracts for new roads by the score,
And siphon the workers wages into bank accounts off shore,
that's not a million miles away from what used to be called slave labour,
When they're stealing from your sweat man, theres no one doing you any favour.
As motorways and highways rip up and tear through the very heart of our countryside,
With any regard or respect for our heritage bureaucratically and physically swept aside.
While strategically placed shopping stadiums suck the very soul out of a town,
As the number of small businesses, farmers, retailers and suppliers goes dwindling down.
This is progress at a price, with most not knowing the cost,
With a community spirit broken, the very fabric of society is lost.
This is direland.
Where they pile them up in casualty wards on trolleys and chairs, side-by-side land,
Regardless of their age or condition, like scenes from a third world ward inside land.
Too few doctors and nurses, working under too much pressure in too small a place,
That we cannot provide a proper healthcare system is a national disgrace.
To not treat your people with the care respect and dignity they deserve,
Is to your undying shame, you who we elected to serve.
But you'll drag us through another legal quagmireland,
With public accounts comities and tribunals trying to seek out to liar land.
Our churchmen and bankers, police and politicians under investigation into serious crimes,
Mass malpractice, abuse and corruption the prevailing sign of our times.
The pursuit of wealth, power and self-gratification,
Is the evil that's taking over a once caring nation.
This is Ireland,
This is desireland.
This is Inspireland
© Marty Mulligan 21/04/05