It’s time to break litany of despair - Renewing our public life

How wonderful it would be to record that the year just past will be remembered as the one when our Government finally recognised that accountability, openness, political leadership, imagination and courage, a rejection of croneyism and the ending of the small-minded divisions that so limit our political system’s capacity — or genuine, unstoppable ambition — to deliver real, uplifting renewal are the hallmarks of a successful society and a functioning democracy.

How wonderful it would be to be able to record that our Government had shown the basic, corner-shop business competence needed to establish an essential public utility — Irish Water — while, through effective communications, winning public support for the project. Rather, the sorry episode became a lightning rod for discontent on a range of disconnected issues and will sustain students of public administration calamities for generations to come. That it took an incomprehensible €85m in consultancy fees just to establish this vital entity and that it became apparent the semi-state company intended to exploit the bonus culture just added to the sense of a good idea gone wrong, of a new-dawn project hijacked by those in a position to do so.