Learning from mistakes - Dodging the issues has failed us all

TODAY’S headline stories — public sector protests and floods — have a bit more in common than might be immediately apparent. Both are the consequences, though to varying degrees, of ignoring warnings that we were engaged in unsustainable practices.

We have, for well over a decade, been warned that our climate is changing and that we could expect severe floods. We were told that draining bogs, dredging rivers, building on flood plains and the paving of ever greater areas of land would all contribute to spectacular floods but we chose not to listen or prepare.

The deluge has arrived and, as tens of thousands of homeowners are told that they may have to wait over a week before their drinking water is restored, we will have plenty of time to try to understand why we behave like ostriches.

We might evaluate how our political system — not just parties in power — responded to these predictions. Characteristically, we got a response based on the belief that unless there is a public outcry about something there is no need to do anything about it.

Maybe some good will come of this year’s first floods if we reconsider how we have responded to other warnings about climate change and finite carbon fuels.

Our insane dependence on imported energy and our bizarre attitude to nuclear power might be a good place to start. We long-finger any honest discussion on the subject as if we could pick a nuclear power plant from the Argos catalogue and await next-day delivery. Even if we decided today to build a nuclear plant it would take at least a decade to commission. Are we prepared to bet everything — yes, everything — on being able to import the vast bulk of our energy needs in 2020? Are we really that mad?

Today thousands of public servants, everyone from the primary school teacher who goes the extra mile to help a struggling child to the many guards and firemen who went far, far beyond the call of duty to help families stricken by floods, will protest to try to avert pay cuts.

It is unlikely they will succeed but if we had heeded the warnings that social partnership was running up a bill we could not afford we would not be at this point.

Our public servants are in this position because their employers — our Government — sought popularity and power above all else. How else can we explain that public sector pay rose by 59% between 2000 and 2008? It may be subjective to suggest that today’s protests represent the anger simmering right across this society rather than an expression of hope. But, unless we rectify the failures that got us into this mess we are doomed to repeat the mistakes. Appeasement, inertia, denial and moral cowardice have failed us badly, surely we can learn that lesson?

Yesterday, a small but significant vignette suggested we can. Scoil Phádraig Naofa in Rochestown, just outside Cork city, opened. The school building harvests rainwater so it can stay open just as so many other schools close because they are dependent on traditional water supplies. A warning was heeded so a small change was made and considerable advance has been recorded.