Last weekend, my grandfather turned 90 years young. His lifetime encompasses all of modern Irish history. Dev and Lemass. The emergency and modernisation. Charlie and Garrett. GUBU, the Celtic Tiger and the crash.
I came to Denmark in August 2014 to study nanoscience at the University of Copenhagen. I arrived following my graduation from UCC. Part of my reason for coming here is the need for adventure beyond Ireland's shores, and the search for opportunity.
On Friday 26th, the people of Ireland will go to the polls to elect the next Dáil. I find providence that we're voting 100 years after 1916. Noting the sacrifice that has come before us, I hope we vote for a new Ireland; an Ireland where access to healthcare is guaranteed, homelessness vanishes and where political rot resides only in a history book.
Life in Copenhagen gives you an insight into the Nordic model of social democracy. Here, the government works efficiently. Excellent transportation, infrastructure and services allow the populace to thrive. Healthcare is universal. They have “the vision thing”, planning the long-term future of a country. We in Ireland need to look past the five-year electoral cycle, beyond to 10, 20 even 50 years, and ask ourselves the question: How well are we building the Ireland of 2036 or 2066?
I am flying home to vote in the election because Ireland deserves a future worthy of its name. Young people must vote for the future they hope for as they did in the marriage equality referendum last year. Ronald Reagan once said of freedom, like the future, "We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
My grandfather has done this, and so shall I.
