Are the Irish lacking Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence deals with our ability to deal with the emotions we experience. In Ireland while we are academically gifted and are well known in the arts world for our creativity do we lack any emotional intelligence? The ability model deals with four types of models in regards to emotional intelligence. Wikipedia explains it all pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence

1.Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.
2.Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
3.Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
4.Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

Irish society as a whole has failed to really become emotionally mature. In any society we learn from a hierarchy, those whom are in charge as to what becomes the norm in society and these norms dictate how we act. From the top we see a lack of all four models above. The bank bailout illustrates this point perfectly.

Perceiving emotions - Enda Kenny and the govt are out of touch with the effects that the cuts are having on us at the moment. Joan Burtons cuts and the imposition of cuts in terms of hosuehold taxes and water charges bring to the fray that we are more focused on monetary gain than understanding the emotions of the public.

Using emotions - these emotions will control us if we dont control them however we are also to use emotions to help us to problem solve and reach a conclusion. FG have been cold to the touch, they have completely being impartial in dealing with the EU and seeking teh bank bailout. There has been no emotion used in the decision again all financial dealings have lead to this.

Understanding the emotions - this ties in with the first point. At what point do we realise the needs of the people as opposed to the needs of the banks?

Manage emotions - indifference itself is an emotion IMO. How do we handle it ?We dont we seem to be too laid back any lack any fire. There is a lot of this passive aggressive bullshit floating about how do we direct our energies and bring about the revolution?

For too long from the RCC all the way up to lack of compassion from the banks and government we have become too lacking in emotional intelligence, its going to contribute to our downfall...