Public sector reform - Taoiseach needs to do lots more

EVERY parish in Ireland has single-issue activists trying to get a school extended or a new one built, others trying to establish proper facilities for children with special needs; some determined to provide respite care so the parents and siblings of children with physical or mental disadvantages can try to live like a normal family for a few hours every few weeks; others fighting to keep their accident and emergency facility open; others trying to establish the cancer screening services regarded as everyday-as-aspirins in a properly functioning, European democracy.

In another parish it might be a dialysis unit or transplant services or speech therapy, others might dare to demand drinking water fit for human consumption, others want school bus routes revised, others a post office or Garda station retained.

Good, decent people, your friends and relations, depending on golf classics, card drives or sponsored walks to fund services they believe they need because the State will not or cannot serve their needs.