Solving housing and health issues will show what Republic is about

Based on traffic volumes, the number of colleagues at their desks and the pick-up in political headlines across the media I think this week represents the official end of summer. 

That means we have just 16 weeks before the end of 2017 and there is plenty of work to be done on Ireland Inc.

The headline economic data is encouraging at a number of levels but most particularly, the unemployment numbers have continued to shift downwards and are now creeping closer to 6% than the level of over 15% that applied during the recent economic crisis.

This change cannot be underestimated in terms of its effect across Irish society. Turning a demoralised healthy individual dependent on social welfare into a tax-paying active worker has a directly positive impact on the exchequer.

And, more importantly, it gives an individual and his or her family a better anchor around which to contribute to the community at large.

At a broader level, exports, imports and general economic forecasts point to an economy that is doing better than prior years. This increased volume of activity, however, is imposing growing pains that are causing considerable pressure points in the system.

Nowhere is this more visible than in the housing market where rents and house prices are inflating amid a general shortage of house supply at a time when family formation numbers are rising.

That trend is being augmented by our relatively young population and a birth rate much higher than applies in large countries like Germany and Japan. A raft of measures are underway to address the shortage of housing and it looks like more is on the way ahead of and in the October budget.

These are needed but it will take time to see the velocity of growth in house production needed to structurally fix the supply problems.

The health system is another choke point that is being taxed by a growing elderly cohort of the population.

While it may be a politically inconvenient point for some, it is a fact that longer lives courtesy of medical advances and of policy moves like the smoking ban are putting more pressure on our health infrastructure. That too needs more money and better systems to improve efficiency and outcomes.

The Dutch reliance on 24-7 primary healthcare units seems like an obvious route to address the problem but better minds than mine are struggling to find the right formula.

Another casualty of a growing economy is our environment, although it seems to me that self-inflicted damage is the key issue presently.

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency published a shameful list of rivers around Ireland that remain heavily polluted.

We are presenting ourselves as a go-to global tourism destination and councils and politicians alike preside over local regimes that tolerate such egregious abuse of our waterways. Fixing that is not far-fetched and could be accelerated with a combination of penalties and by treatment incentives if heads are banged together.

There is a multitude of issues to be confronted and they must all be addressed while managing Brexit and continued downward pressure on sterling.

These challenges can be seen as overwhelming and a cause of despair, a perspective which I often think is amplified by the way media addresses them.

Alternatively, you can see these issues are tests of what the Republic is all about. A review of not just the past decade but the past 100 years would suggest Irish men and women have the ability and ambition to face down monumental challenges to their future and their fortunes.

The challenges in front of us four months from the end of 2017 should be considered in that light.

Instead of the spiteful abuse and name calling that has crept into Irish politics, a period of constructive dialogue accompanied by facts-based decision-making is the best course forward.

Joe Gill is director of corporate broking at Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal.