The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) is at it again - complaining on RTE's Morning Ireland about how the slump in sales of new cars is threatening the Irish 'motor industry' and calling on the banks to make credit available to prospective buyers and, bizarrely, for government to subsidise new car purchases - when many people are worried about keeping a roof over their heads.
It baffles me that what is essentially a retail lobby group can present itself as an 'industry' and be accepted as such on the country's flagship current affairs radio programme.
SIMI describes itself as the representative body for "dealers, repairers, vehicle distributors, wholesalers, retailers, vehicle testers and many more important operators within the industry in Ireland". Leaving aside the tautology, what you've got essentially is the sales, distribution & service piece of the automotive industry value chain. There's precious little productive economic activity in there - and certainly none of it is to be confused with the once thriving and now declining automotive components manufacturing sector.
While the current economic collapse is unpleasant for everyone, SIMI's members and their employees included, its woes are the least of our problems.
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