Social reform - Our unfair society must be changed

We in Ireland are rarely found wanting in acknowledging those moments in history that have shaped our past. Only this week we have been commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Easter Rising and the 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf.

But what about those things that never quite took hold but might have shaped our future for the better? Next year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Planning For A Just Society, one of most profound social documents ever to emerge here. The document was not just signalling a break from the past, but was meant to be a blueprint for the future. It was also, of course, the manifesto of its author, Declan Costello, who was leader of a new generation of Fine Gael politicians in the 1960s that wanted to move the party to the left.

The central theme of Costello’s thesis was that social reform and social progress are not luxuries which must wait until economic development has reached a peak.