OPINION: Parties need to set out their 'guiding vision' for Ireland

Ireland needs a guiding vision to move the country towards a desirable and sustainable future argues Dr Seán Healy of Social Justice Ireland

Ireland has no guiding vision. The lack of such a vision has led to incoherence at the core of public policy, i.e. a failure to integrate policy developments across many areas of government policy ranging from education to health from infrastructure to social services from economic development to fiscal policy.

There are many who dismiss the need for such a guiding vision arguing that at best it is irrelevant and at worst it is a total distraction from what should be the major focus of governments and public policy makers, i.e. the development of relevant policies to address current issues of concern. There are others, however, who argue that without a guiding vision policy development will at best be haphazard and at worst be working at cross purposes with itself. I agree with the latter.