There are very good reasons why referendum and election posters are supposed to be taken down within weeks of polling day. They cause litter, for a start. They blow down in the wind and hit cyclists on the head. And nobody wants to see a picture of some jowly chancer hanging from a pole when they come around the corner. It causes accidents and frightens the children.

Sometimes, however, just as a little experiment, it might be an idea to leave some of the posters up, so that we can all come back a year later and remember some of the promises and specific commitments that were made by these jowly chancers and their acolytes. Some of us might even reflect on how we fell for their silver-tongued nonsense.

This time last year, the country was overwhelmed by posters urging us to vote in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum. The electorate had disgraced itself in the eyes of the establishment in Lisbon I. To get us to change our minds, we were bombarded with promises, and with posters advertising them.

Here's a sample of a few from last year: "Yes For Jobs", said one. "My job depends on Europe", proclaimed another, featuring a picture of an attractive blonde lady smiling for joy about the secure position you, the voter, were about to win for her by ticking the Yes box on polling day. "Yes To Jobs, Yes to Europe", promised a Fine Gael poster. Fianna Fáil chipped in with "For Jobs, Growth, Europe's Future, Vote Yes".

There was no ambiguity in any of this. By the summer of last year, it was clear the country had been badly damaged by the behaviour of its politicians and bankers and that it needed protection from Fianna Fáil, which was incapable of even recognising the destruction it had wrought, never mind undoing it. To an extent all these posters (even Fianna Fáil's) were based on the idea that Ireland was doomed and needed the help of an outside agency to right itself. They played on our fears for our future and our loathing of our leaders. They promised us a miracle.

So where are we a year later? Where are the Lisbon jobs now, to pose a question asked in a small demonstration in Dublin yesterday, one which made its way to the headquarters of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, all of whom tried to con you last year. What do the jowly chancers have to say to the employees of Musgrave, Pfizer, Bank Of Scotland Ireland, IBM and myriad other companies that closed or announced job losses since the second Lisbon referendum? Where is the jobs strategy? Where is the help from Europe?

There is none. The most recent economic forecast on jobs, from Ernst and Young last week, predicted that unemployment would remain a "significant problem" for a generation. The jobless rate will be stuck at 10% for the next five years. It will be more than a decade before the economy returns to the level enjoyed in 2007, when it was at its peak.

Ernst and Young described the ongoing crisis in Ireland as "a recession of the youth". Almost a quarter of people who lost their jobs in 2008 and 2009 are under 25, it said. It also drew attention to the ongoing crisis in the construction industry, where there is a huge surplus of labour following the downturn. Neil Gibson, the main advisor on the report, said any economic upturn in the coming years would feel like a "jobless recovery". GDP would rise, he said, but "it's not going to feel like that to consumers or businesses. While a recovery in exports will be good for tax receipts, it will not necessarily be felt in villages and streets in Ireland". As he spoke, the May unemployment statistics were being released. They showed that 6,600 extra people signed on the Live Register last month. The unemployment rate has risen to 13.7%. Emigration has probably stopped that figure from reaching 15%.

The villages and streets of Ireland are, of course, where the jowly chancers paraded themselves last year with their promises of jobs and security if we voted for Lisbon, and where the emptiness of those commitments can best be judged. The year since has been a disaster for hundreds of thousands of people who, if they could see those posters now, might surmise that they were sold a pup in the summer of 2009. In fact. It's clear that the yes campaign for Lisbon last June was an act of profound cynicism. At this juncture, it's unclear whether it will be the EU or our politicians who will suffer most for that.

OLE! OLE! no way: so will an England win do instead?

By the time you read this, I'll be enjoying the ultimate staycation – three weeks' holidays in front of the television watching the World Cup, deluding myself that life is this good all the time and that the country won't be as banjaxed as it is now when I return to work on 6 July. As Shane Coleman wrote in his column last week, it would have been fantastic for the country had Ireland managed to qualify. The 1990 Reeling In The Years was repeated the other week, and memories of the pure unadulterated joy, the mindless fun of it all, came flooding back. We could do with some of that at the moment. A victory for England would make some of us happy, but it'll deepen the gloom for many others.

ddoyle@tribune.ie