A new programme for government. Who do they think they’re kidding?

ON Saturday, I went to an education conference where Garret FitzGerald spoke about the decline of moral authority in Ireland.

It was fascinating and learned, and you could hear his anxiety as he spoke. He concentrated mostly on how the authority of the church had disappeared, ever since the debate on contraception in the late 1960s, and on how unprepared we were for the period of rapid social change we have experienced.

But he touched on politics too, remarking at one point that no one could teach youngsters to respect politics until politicians changed their behaviour. And he also departed from his script to say that the country needed a new beginning in political terms — “but that,” he added, “is a discussion for another day”.