Old beliefs destroying our world: Our aversion to change is a real threat

There is a recognition that it is time to reconsider principles we have, for generations, regarded as rational, enriching, progressive and inevitable.

The accelerating concentration of material security and opportunity — wealth is too simple a word for this regression — and climate change are primary consequences of ambitions now seen as unsustainable.

Yet, we remain in thrall to them. Any Dáil candidate brave enough, over the next 22 days, to suggest alternatives to our social and economic development conventions risks being dismissed as a crank.

This cultural discomfort with challenge, though not uniquely Irish, chains us to a process with predictable outcomes, fewer and fewer of which are positive.

A plan on how Cork City might be developed is under consideration. It will feature discussions on the vexed issue of student accommodation.

There is a significant deficit which means very high rents which are, ultimately, a tax on education.

There are plans to build more accommodation but these will sharpen the relationship between colleges and communities.

Swathes of suburbia have been swamped by student accommodation and residents’ quality of life has diminished.

Developments will not reduce rents unless student numbers are capped and that is unlikely.

These developments will further challenge hotels struggling with the impact offering vacant student accommodation to summertime tourists.

The number of international students at our colleges has increased dramatically.

Last year the sector had 14,412, an increase of 27% since 2016, far outstripping the 5.4% increase in Irish students.

It would be wrong, stupid, and hypocritical to point an accusatory finger at this tiny, welcome cohort because of planning failures.

Nevertheless, that rate of growth, one that ensures higher rents, points to the belief that third-level growth can be infinite irrespective of location — or governments’ refusal to decide how colleges might be funded.

That refusal also jeopardises valued institutions’relationships with host communities.

Tractor protests in Dublin point to another conflict that will not be resolved unless we embrace difficult change.

Those farmers protested over poor beef prices and have a cast-iron case but their world is under new scrutiny.

Not least because we export 90% of the beef we produce and 90% of dairy products yet absorb 100% of the ugly environmental costs of production.

That imbalance will lead to fines in the hundreds of millions, money that would be far better spent helping farmers adopt while averting climate chaos.

That dairy exports doubled to €4bn since milk quotas ended in 2015 shows the scale of the problem.

It is also unacceptable that many in the sector do not recognise this problem as a problem.

Essentially, we have sacrificed a good environment to win exports yet many farmers remain unprofitable and rely on subsidies — surely the epitome of unsustainability.

These are examples of inflexibility, social and individual, that exact a heavy price yet any candidate promising change proportionate to these challenges is unlikely to succeed.

Will we in a few years time then blame those we elect for not delivering real, redemptive change?