Businessman Ben Dunne says we need a change of Government to get us through the cost of living crisis.
The former supermarket boss reckons strong leaders are needed and blasted the current “Mickey Mouse coalition.”
Straight-talking Dunne - who now owns a chain of low-cost gyms - told the Irish Mirror: “There needs to be a radical change in the way the country is being run.
“The first thing we have to do as a people is get a change of government. The priority is to help the working-class.
“It’s got to be strong and not a Mickey Mouse coalition. We should try democracy first. Give that a chance.
“The crowd that are in there at the moment, I’d be slow to give them my vote.
“Whoever we put into power, it shouldn’t be any of those who are in there at the moment.”
Referring to Sinn Fein’s rising popularity - with the most recent poll putting them at a record high of 37% - said: “If they get there, I hope they get an overall majority.
“Then nobody can blame anyone but them. Give them a big mandate: help the working class.”
“We need to vote a new Government in with a big majority and see if they can sort the country out.”
The forecasted recession could easily turn into a Great Depression, he warns.
An economic depression is a worldwide economic downturn, with devastating effects on society and economy.
Said Dunne: “Everyone can say: 'there's a recession on the way.' But it’s very easy to turn a recession into a depression.
“You keep upping prices and prices rise. Then wages rise - and when wages rise, costs get too expensive. And then it’s not recession - you go into a depression.
“The big problem today is, every other time we hit hard times on this island, we were able to emigrate. This is worldwide now.
“We can’t just go to England, the US or Europe.They’re in the same position as us. That's the frightening thing. We’re heading for disaster.”
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Dunne’s family chain Dunnes Stores introduced bargain grocery shopping and the concept of ‘Better Value’ to Irish consumers.
He says citizens will kick back against the rising costs of living, with everything from energy bills to grocery bills, petrol, accommodation and medical bills on the increase.
“The people won't take it - this will not happen. The masses will rebel, even though I don't like using the word rebel.
“But they will change the way they vote - and I wouldn't blame them.”
Dunne, 73, says the full-time worker is taking the brunt, with even those better off struggling to cope.
“Before in Ireland, if you were a hard-working person, you kept your head above water.
“But you could be working 20 hours a day now and the way costs are rising, you’ll find it difficult just to keep the head above water.
“It’s now affecting people to a bigger degree than they were ever affected before.
“The politicians - they’re not feeling any pinch of it. But they’re making one big mistake this time.
“It used to be just the really low-paid who were affected. But now, there’s an awful lot of what you and I would call 'middle class' who are on the breadline at the moment.
“They can’t do anything - filling car the with petrol is like a mortgage a month, and so is childcare, all these costs.
“The politicians outsmart one another on TV, but none of them are giving any answers as to how to get out of this problem.”
Dunne predicts the pain of price increases will go on for AT LEAST another year and a half.
“I think we’re in for a hard 18 months. If you want to cod yourself, you could say: ‘It will go away.’
“But being realistic, there are no reasons as to how it can go away. There’s no way. There’s no silver bullet.”
He says even he has transformed how he runs his gym business, Ben Dunne Gyms. He has factored in how energy costs for the company will double this year.
“I’m not involved in how the country is run - and never want to be. But even in my own business, I have radically changed the way I’m running it.
“I did away with all the swimming pools, as I saw this coming and I knew I just couldn't afford to have them. We’ve done an estimate in our business.
“And over the next 12 months, energy cost will go from €350,000 to €700,000. And that's our own internal estimate, and that's us cutting out and cutting back, and we still see that. What happens if it goes higher than that? Then we’re in trouble.”
He says global events have caused our current economic woes.
“For the last 15 years, we’ve had stagnation, deflation - and very little inflation. Then a set of circumstances came about - the war in Ukraine - the money put into getting Covid under control - and that all led to an increase in energy prices.
“That all had to be borrowed on top of huge borrowings there already. It’s a kind of a tsunami.
“I still maintain that it's the distribution that’s at the root of it. You cant have 95% of the wealth held by 5% of the population. There has to be some form of wealth distribution.
“To see people sleeping on the streets of not just Dublin, but every city and village in Ireland.
"I have never seen the political class looking after themselves so much, while hard-pressed people are living on food rationings. It really is criminal.
"The only thing we haven't thought about cutting back on is the cost of government.”
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