Bertie Ahern says people should be less selfish and undertake voluntary activity - but there are many practical obstacles, writes Carl O'Brien
Housing estates are sprouting up all across Dublin 15. Thousands of families are moving into the area. It's officially one of the fastest-growing places in the country. It should be good news - but there is something troubling seasoned community activists.
"We keep seeing the same old faces who are getting involved in everything," says Kieran O'Neill, chairman of the Dublin 15 Community Council, a voluntary umbrella body of environmental and community groups. "This area has doubled in population in the last years, but we're not seeing newcomers really participating in the community."
It's not as if there's a shortage of issues for local people to get involved in. Traffic congestion, poor public transport, a lack of school places and inadequate facilities, and unfinished housing estates are just some of the problems facing areas such as Ongar, Clonsilla and Blanchardstown.
"Houses are being thrown up, but there's a major lag with amenities coming on stream, like schools, community facilities and recreational areas," says O'Neill.
It's this lack of participation that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern touched on when he spoke at the first meeting of the Taskforce on Active Citizenship in Croke Park this week. The group's aim is to encourage greater participation, locally and nationally, and to advise the Government on measures that contribute to the development of strong, civic-minded, independent citizens.
"Being an active citizen is based on the shared values that bind us together," he said. "There is a concern that we have become more materialistic, maybe even more selfish, and if we have, I believe many people would conclude that for all our new wealth, we are much the poorer."
WHAT AHERN SAID chimed with many groups struggling to attract volunteers. Anecdotal evidence suggests growing numbers of people feel they are too busy to contribute to their local communities. Sports clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to find volunteer coaches. Some community groups say it is difficult to get sufficient numbers to even reach a quorum for their regular meetings.
And then there are the practical issues, such as insurance, administration, and child protection training, all of which are cited as barriers towards getting people involved.
"Some women in Clonsilla wanted to start up a mother-and-toddler group but they ran into the problem of getting insurance which cost hundreds of euro," says O'Neill. "There are a lot of practical obstacles like this."
However, the Taoiseach neatly sidestepped the Government's own responsibility in creating what some see as an increasingly disconnected society. Government policies such as tax individualisation, short-sighted planning laws, under-funding of public transport and a sense of disempowerment at community level may have added to a decline in civic engagement, say many volunteers.
The personal involvement of Ahern in establishing the task force, which should ordinarily be under the aegis of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is a sign of the increasing seriousness with which the subject is being taken. With an election looming and with concern growing among the electorate over quality of life issues, the focus on participation in the community comes at a convenient time.
Yet for all the sudden urgency about the future direction of society, the need for a task force is debatable. There has been a wealth of reports and research into the area in recent years. Most have offered progressive solutions, but there has been little sign of implementation. They include the Government's White Paper on Supporting Voluntary Activity in 2000; a report following on from this, Tipping the Balance, in 2002; and an impressive piece of policy research by the National Economic and Social Council, titled The Policy Implications of Social Capital, a year later.
The latter included 24 recommendations, including the designation of a Government department to co-ordinate strategic thinking and policy design in relation to social capital. Yet these conclusions met with a deadening silence from Government.
THE DUBLIN CITY Development Board is one group trying to put new ideas into practice. It is involving businesses in communities through the concept of "employer-supported volunteering", in which firms combine financial support with the time and skills of staff members, making it easier for them to contribute to the community.
Other ideas centre on convincing time-pressed citizens to give a small portion of their time to occasional volunteering. Part of the success of the Special Olympics, according to its chief executive, Mary Davis, was that volunteers did not have to sign up to a lifetime commitment.
Planning is vital too. Those Olympics, one of the biggest displays of volunteerism in living memory, were only facilitated by years of careful planning and organisation.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, many voluntary groups say that dire warnings about rampant materialism and a collapse in community values are misleading. The GAA is a vibrant organisation, while the level of involvement in the Tidy Towns competition and the fundraising response to disasters such as the recent tsunami show that Irish people still want to participate.
Davis probably put it best at the first meeting of the task force this week when she spoke about the latent desire among all citizens to help and contribute to society.
"In the work I've been doing with the Special Olympics over the last 30 years, no one has ever refused to help when they were asked," she said. "People do want to help and get involved. It gets clouded a bit and you can understand why, due to the busy lives we live. It's not high up on our radar. What the task force can do is raise awareness in relation to the needs of the community."
For further information, contact www.activecitizen.ie. Details of remaining regional public consultation meetings (all take place from 7-9pm): Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan, Sept 19; Sligo Park Hotel, Sept 20; Radisson SAS Hotel, Galway, Sept 26; Kingsley Hotel, Cork, Sept 28; Tullamore Court Hotel, Oct 2.