Fine Gael: Pandemic has helped us reassess work-life balance

Seanad Spokesperson on Employment Affairs, Work/Life Balance & Northern Ireland, Emer Currie; Fine Gael Party chairman, Richard Bruton;  and Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English at the launch of Fine Gael's ‘Measuring Wellbeing: A Fine Discussion Paper’. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mental health, work-life balance, climate resilience and the level of volunteering in the community should all be used as measures of economic progress in the post-Covid-19 world.

That is the recommendation of a new Fine Gael discussion paper entitled 'Measuring Wellbeing'. The paper argues that using measures such as GDP to track economic progress is not enough, a fuller picture must be captured.

Deputy Richard Bruton, one of the party's supporters of the paper, said the Covid-19 pandemic had shown that much of what is actually valuable is not measured as a marker of how well the country is doing.

“What gets measured is what gets done. This is particularly true across government which often operates in narrow silos. The shortcomings of measures like GDP are well documented. The Covid experience has shown that policy undervalues much that is vital in our lives. New policies must help us to make better choices to support our wellbeing.

“Fine Gael’s overarching purpose stems from a desire to transform the wellbeing of our country and citizens, and wellbeing indicators must be embedded in our political process so they can drive, guide, inspire and measure public policy.

"The intention is that this scorecard of indicators should drive government policy. It should guide what Government is seeking to achieve in setting our shared goals, and it should be used in strategy statements which Ministers set out for their departments."

Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, said the paper reflects a desire to reflect how people live in government policy.

"We want a sustainable future and good and effective public services for our citizens, and having a broader set of metrics with a focus on wellbeing will be essential in realizing this vision for Ireland.”

Emer Currie, Fine Gael’s Seanad Spokesperson on Employment Affairs and Work/Life Balance, said that Ireland needed to redraw its social contract and move into the 21st century. 

“It has taken a global pandemic to make us reconsider how we do things, especially how we work, and these metrics will help support that change. We need a 21st-century social contract based on new challenges and needs, like work-life balance, affordability and climate resilience. People need a better deal, a better balance and a better future.”