Equality referendum aftermath: Struggling to recover relevance

IN recent days two very different people responded in very different ways to the unexpectedly powerful and joyous weekend expression of the cultural revolution that has been bubbling away in this country for several decades. 

Though this revolt has been fermenting for more than a generation elements of Ireland’s establishment have ignored it and this weekend they surrendered relevance and credibility they can hardly afford because they couldn’t, or refused to, tell the difference between transient posturing and a real, deepseated desire for change.

Both of these sincere individuals expressed their sadness that once-dominant social organisations had not recognised how much this society has changed and imagined that they could carry on as before; that the hubris of old that hollowed out their different organisations was still justifiable.