General election 2016: Economy rebuilt but more to do

AND they’re off ... finally. Taoiseach Enda Kenny asked President Higgins to dissolve the 31st Dáil yesterday and the election campaign will immediately intensify culminating with voting on Friday, February 26. 

Whether Mr Kenny used the opportunity of his visit to Áras an Uachtaráin to discuss the President’s suggestions on a more ethical society, one focussed on improving public services rather than cutting personal taxes, is not recorded. That may have been a missed opportunity because in a society determined not to relive the boom-and-bust nightmare, that dilemma, that conflict between the individual and society, should be the battleground over which this election campaign is fought.

The evidence pushing this dilemma to the top of the agenda is all around us: college graduates who can barely read or add; HSE child protection services that condemn vulnerable people to a living hell; a housing crisis making ever more people destitute and making it impossible for young families to follow a well-established, motivating life path; a two-tier health system, and this society’s absolute inability to hold the forces that shape it to account — a weakness highlighted by the banking inquiry and one that will limit any inquiry into the foster care home scandal. Those are some of the unresolved issues and there are many, many more — universal healthcare is one — but there have been some spectacular, transformative achievements too, and the coalition is more than entitled to expect that they be recognised and rewarded.