Everyone must sing from the same hymn sheet to achieve common good

GARRET Fitzgerald believed in the common good. He talked about it as the cornerstone of public policy, and advocated that government promote it.

When Fitzgerald was Taoiseach, he believed that one way of achieving the common good was through inter-departmental committees. When he took the chair at such committees, he was a good driver. He focused the group on analysing the problem from a shared basis, and on coming up with solutions urgently.

There were two problems. Among his peers — and Fitzgerald regarded the Cabinet he led as his peers — he sought consensus.