Irish Examiner view: Resolving to improve our outlook
A man walks by illuminated decorations on New Year's Eve in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: Lee Jin-man/AP
Readers waking up to 2026 might be forgiven for waving goodbye to 2025 with a sigh of relief. The year began with Donald Trump taking office again as president of the United States.
His second term in the Oval Office has been even more scandalous than his first, with the long-running saga of the Jeffrey Epstein files continuing to cast a shadow over his presidency.
We have had our own challenges in Ireland, with a housing crisis that shows no signs of improving — the opposite, in fact — now a recurring headline item.
On top of that, we have witnessed a horrific genocide unfolding in real time in Gaza, perpetrated by Israel, and a grinding, attritional conflict in Ukraine.
Russian invaders continuing to batter away there at the local forces while also, apparently, casting an eye at other countries across Europe with a view to involving them in a conflict which may stretch across the continent.
Even that brief summary — which makes no mention of the more quotidian challenges facing us, such as the cost-of-living crisis — is a sobering reminder of a testing 12 months.
It is also a nudge to us all to be aware of our outlook as we face into the coming year.
One of the hardiest clichés that surfaces at the start of every January is not so much the focus on a new start and a fresh page, but how quickly that focus vanishes.
For proof, readers need only visit their local gym or fitness centre in the coming days to see the new members crowding the changing rooms and hogging the equipment; a return visit in the middle of February is an instructive lesson in just how committed people truly are to their resolutions.
One lesson worth taking into the new year relates less to building biceps and more to improving one’s outlook.
It is understandable to feel a touch of despair sometimes when considering the headlines, which seem uniformly grim, but we should maintain some perspective in the face of what sometimes appears to be a relentlessly negative narrative.
Ireland is one of the most stable democracies in the world, according to the Democracy Indices published by the V-Dem Institute.
Those indices measure several factors which show how truly democratic a country is and, in the most recent rankings, only Denmark and Estonia were rated higher than Ireland.
Ireland also enjoys a high standard of living.
According to the CSO, the total net wealth of Irish households rose by €39.5bn to close to €1.3bn halfway through last year — which represents a new high.
We enjoy a very safe living environment, according to the World Population Review, which rated only Iceland and New Zealand above us in its annual rankings of the safest countries in the world in 2025.
Clearly, these are broad indicators which do not take account of local challenges and specific problems.
For instance, the housing and accommodation crisis, which is less one crisis than a rolling set of interconnected problems, continues to beset the country.
For those who are unhoused, references to the broad picture of prosperity in the country come with a grim irony.
If we are to tackle that problem, and the other challenges which face us, we must do so with the right attitude and focus.
That is not to promote a Pollyannaish belief in vague commitments to the power of positive thinking, but rather a determination to look for new solutions, and to promote new thinking and new answers.
To believe that problems, including the housing crisis, can be solved is a necessary first step. Let that outlook form a resolution for 2026 which all of us can adopt and persevere with.
As mentioned above, beginning 2026 with a positive outlook and attitude is a good move.
But it’s unfortunate that some of our long-running challenges remain as pressing as ever in the Christmas holiday season.
Road traffic accidents continue to claim lives, with a fatal incident in Kildare only this week.
Little wonder that An Garda Síochána’s Christmas and new year road safety campaign will continue until January 5.
The data released by gardaí, having carried out over 2,100 checkpoints in the seven days to December 28, is shocking.
Some of the top speeds detected included a driver in Limerick driving at 207km/h in a 100km/h zone, while another was travelling 118km/h in a 50km/h in the very centre of Dublin, on the North Circular Rd.
It may be more concerning, however, to learn that 149 drivers were arrested in one week, from December 22, for driving under the influence of an intoxicant — either alcohol or drugs.
"Why wouldn’t you ask them to moderate their behaviour rather than standing beside their funeral and grieving them?”
Superintendent Geraghty is rightly giving people licence to challenge those who are happy to threaten lives on our roads through their own selfishness. If more people begin to call out such behaviour then that is a 2026 development all will welcome.
The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been hailed variously as the end of all human endeavour and the ultimate aid to all human endeavour, with little middle ground.
One of the most significant places where AI intersects with real life is the education sector, with many teachers and instructors complaining about their students’ over-reliance on AI when it comes to homework and projects, and a concomitant fall in standards.
The malign influence of AI is so far-reaching that the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has now come up with new proposals which will sound very familiar to older readers.
The HEA is to recommend face-to-face interviews in which students will have to demonstrate their work is their own, while third-level institutions are to be encouraged to redesign courses.
It is understood that the old-fashioned written exams is one proposal under consideration.
The oldest form of examination must be used to circumvent the newest form of cheating? As the old song has it, everything old is new again.
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