We’ve seen far too much arrogance and greed, but no political vision

SOME economists have been hard at work this year trying to convince us that the Celtic Tiger is only taking a rest and could be back roaring at some stage in the future, a notion encapsulated in the title of Marc Coleman’s new book The Best is Yet to Come.

Coleman makes much of the fact that Ireland is currently the only country in Europe whose population has not greatly increased since the 19th century and the Republic’s population could reach nine million by the year 2050. By that time, his argument continues, the economic reunification of North and South could see 12 million people flourish in an all-island economy as migrants from eastern Europe and the returning Irish diaspora come together to build a new Ireland.

Whatever about the merits of Coleman’s optimism, he has accurately identified a major problem standing in the way of a new vision for Ireland — “the distractions of a transient obsession with prosperity”. It is difficult to argue with that; the last 10 years have been notable for that obsession and ultimately we are going to pay dearly for it. It is not unlikely that in the future the bookshelves of Ireland will be heaving with books about the mismanagement of prosperity with titles like Where Did It All Go Wrong?

It is now 10 years since Fianna Fáil and the PDs came to power on the back of a feeling that it was payback time for the middle classes and the sense that delivering that payback was the most important political priority, as the Irish Independent famously reminded us in a front page editorial at the time of the 1997 general election.

The late political commentator Dick Walsh, a man with a firm grasp on history as well as the foibles of early 21st century Ireland, made the point during the following general election campaign in 2002: “Making Ireland a fairer place, with emphasis on health, housing and education, on who owns the country and in whose interests its affairs are organised, was always considered a subject best left to the Labour Party, the trade unions and voluntary organisations. Even the last election (1997), which really was about fairness, public service and the nature of society, ended with a lopsided populist appeal which reduced all issues to one: tax reductions at any cost.”

It is those crucial themes — fairness, public service and the nature of society — that have been neglected during the boom and a review of the year coming to a close highlights the stark reality that we have failed to get these fundamentals right. There has been no evidence of even a modicum of vision being articulated by political leaders in this country and the obsession with individual wealth, houses, tax cuts and stamp duty has distorted any sense of thinking about the wider picture. What we have had, particularly in comparison to other countries, is exceptional political stability over the last 20 years and the preoccupation with consensus served the country well, up to a point.

But there has been no real interest in the concept of fairness or the nature of society and no real suggestion that we should be doing things fundamentally differently than they are being done now.

This year, Magill magazine celebrated its 30th anniversary and former editors and contributors were asked whether they felt Ireland has changed for the better. The response of Colm Tóibín, who edited Magill in the mid-1980s, was “Are You joking?” Gene Kerrigan, in contrast, answered: “Not much. The external things have changed — different buildings and so on, and there’s a confidence in young people that wasn’t there before. But the worst of the arrogance you see around today was there then. There’s less poverty but the same or more relative poverty. It’s remarkably similar. And they’re remarkably similar people who are running it — in spirit and in family.”

Arguably, both Tóibín and Kerrigan are correct, and Tóibín’s certainty about contemporary Ireland being a much improved place is by no means a vote of confidence in political management. It is striking that many of the changes that have improved people’s lives and their freedoms have been brought about as a result of the efforts of those working outside of politics and, with some notable exceptions, decisions of the courts rather than proactive politics has often been the stimulus for legislative change, particularly in the areas of personal freedoms that understandably preoccupied Tóibín and his colleagues in the 1980s.

Kerrigan’s identification of continued arrogance is also justified. One only has to read Defence Minister Willie O’Dea’s nauseatingly smug assessment of Brian Cowen’s recent budget — also devoid of vision — to see just how arrogant the current Government is. It was a budget that demonstrated, according to O’Dea that “this Government will deliver the better, more productive Ireland we have within our grasp”.

Is this the best it can come up with after 10 years of economic boom? After a decade in government, the promise of a better Ireland? The same Ireland it has made a mess of governing? Ministers have all been using the same words and phrases over the last few weeks — “prudence“, “new economic realities” and “pragmatism”. Seemingly, they are not interested in the lessons of the past. If there is one thing clear from recent Irish history it is that investment in education is of paramount importance in terms of future economic prosperity, a fact recognised by ministers like Patrick Hillery and Donogh O’Malley more than 40 years ago.

But the current Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, is now insisting “we’re only political realists. We can only work with the money we have”.

THIS is another way of saying that pre-election commitments on the size of primary school classes will not be met. During the year, 18,000 parents attended class-size rallies and were piously informed by TDs of the fundamental commitment that existed to reducing those class sizes. Hanafin has now admitted it will not be possible to meet those targets. Indeed, as was blindingly obvious in May, practically every general election commitment that was made by Fianna Fáil was bogus. In any case, that general election was just another that failed in any serious way to debate the nature of Irish society.

Since 1998, Fr Harry Bohan has been organising the annual Céifin conference, which has been pilloried from some quarters as amounting to a whinge fest full of cranks who want to drag Ireland back to the miserable 1980s. In truth, it has been about reminding us that we have forgotten something; in the same way that Dick Walsh, in 1997 and 2002, reminded us about the dangers of neglecting the fundamentals of fairness, public service and the nature of society.

It is worth reminding ourselves why Fr Bohan decided to establish his annual conference, particularly at the end of a year in which once again we have buried our heads about the kind of society we have become: “The reality is that, despite extraordinary economic advances, there is still considerable poverty of spirit, a fracturing of community and family relationships, a crumbling of institutions and values and much disconnectedness and alienation in Irish society today.”