Scariff native Margaret Hoey yesterday celebrated her 105th birthday as she witnessed one of the harshest budgets in her lifetime.
The hardy pensioner has lived through world events that most have only read about in the history books and can remember the hard times that the State suffered during the Anglo-Irish economic war of the 1930s. Born in 1903, the year St Patrick's Day was made a national holiday, she has lived through the sinking of the Titanic,
the end of British rule in most of Ireland, the roll-out of electricity, two world wars, the advent of television, eight Irish Presidents and the rise and decline of the Celtic Tiger.
With the Finance Minister unveiling the early Budget, Ms Hoey remarked that Brian Lenihan has "done his best" but noted that any economist or politician attempting to balance the country's books, had "their work cut out". The native of Poulnagower, Scariff, Co Clare, was quick to pinpoint the problems that led to the country's current woes. "Everyone is too well paid, including yourself," she quipped. "The salaries and wages are too high for a small country and the borrowing is too much for people these days with their big empty homes. We just can't afford it. The good days didn't last long, it wasn't permanent," she said.
Ms. Hoey told the Irish Independent newspaper that the cutbacks on the medical card will come as a loss to some. "Some people need it and some don't," she commented. However, Ms Hoey said the country had to penny-pinch to a far greater extent over 70 years ago.
The hardy pensioner has lived through world events that most have only read about in the history books and can remember the hard times that the State suffered during the Anglo-Irish economic war of the 1930s. Born in 1903, the year St Patrick's Day was made a national holiday, she has lived through the sinking of the Titanic,
the end of British rule in most of Ireland, the roll-out of electricity, two world wars, the advent of television, eight Irish Presidents and the rise and decline of the Celtic Tiger.With the Finance Minister unveiling the early Budget, Ms Hoey remarked that Brian Lenihan has "done his best" but noted that any economist or politician attempting to balance the country's books, had "their work cut out". The native of Poulnagower, Scariff, Co Clare, was quick to pinpoint the problems that led to the country's current woes. "Everyone is too well paid, including yourself," she quipped. "The salaries and wages are too high for a small country and the borrowing is too much for people these days with their big empty homes. We just can't afford it. The good days didn't last long, it wasn't permanent," she said.
Ms. Hoey told the Irish Independent newspaper that the cutbacks on the medical card will come as a loss to some. "Some people need it and some don't," she commented. However, Ms Hoey said the country had to penny-pinch to a far greater extent over 70 years ago.
