It is timely to rethink what it means to be a citizen in 21st-century Ireland, writes Fergus O'Ferrall.
The recent announcement by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that he will establish a task force on active citizenship is to be greatly welcomed. The task force will advise the Taoiseach on how to maintain and develop a culture of active citizenship, so that we may build a healthy civic society.
Since the 1990s Irish people have built a very strong economy which has brought great benefits. In parallel we have experienced radical social change, even social dislocation.Obvious concerns include alcohol abuse, anti-social behaviour, absence of care for an increasingly elderly population, poverty of those left behind by the Celtic Tiger and how to deal with difference and diversity in our society. Politicians encounter disillusionment, apathy, frustration, even alienation as turnout declines in elections.
The Taoiseach's decision to set up a high-level task force to focus public concern and discussion on those elements which would support a healthy civic society is an act of statesmanship.
The Taoiseach, in announcing the task force, was addressing a major national conference on the Future of the Community and Voluntary Sector. There are an estimated 24,000 local and national voluntary organisations, according to the Centre for Non-Profit Management in Trinity College Dublin. And, as Mr Ahern observed, we are fortunate to have so many active citizens meeting so many diverse needs. Thousands of these organisations are now networked by The Wheel, which organised the recent conference, and which is a unique resource for community and voluntary organisations.
But as the Taoiseach warned "we must not be complacent", and he went on to talk of the pressures which militate against this type of engagement. "Some of these relate to lifestyle and the pressures of combining work life with home and family commitments. This is particularly the case in the context of more extensive commuting. Some people are put off by the accountability which can arise from engagement in organised activities, old and new.
"Others still can be discouraged by criticism or by the indifference of those who stand back and leave the effort to others," Mr Ahern said.
The task force will stimulate discussion and debate throughout society and produce recommendations both for the short and long term. Many international studies have shown how a flourishing civic society is an essential precondition for political, social and economic development. A vibrant civic society might be characterised as one in which there exists:
• Highly developed standards of civic morality and civility
• Consistently high degrees of citizen involvement in democratic processes in all domains of life
• Healthy collaboration between all stakeholders in society for the common good
• Balanced development between the social and economic dimensions of family, communal and personal lifestyles
• Effective structures for information, consultation and public participation in policy-making and public services
• Strong popular impulses and widespread opportunities for citizens to be engaged in their local communities and neighbourhoods.
Government has a key role in ensuring that such a civic society is achieved. The OECD, in an important report Citizens as Partners, argues that governments benefit from active citizens and a dynamic civil society, and can take concrete actions to facilitate access to information and participation, raise awareness, strengthen citizens' civic education and skills as well as to support capacity-building among civil society organisations.
It is not only Government that must commit to a newly articulated public philosophy of active citizenship. Business and economic interests must be prepared to make a substantial social investment in voluntary action by citizens.
The recent emergence of organisations such as Business in the Community and Philanthropy Ireland, as well as the Corporate Social Responsibility movement, are all evidence of the increasing awareness and willingness of key business people that they should invest some of their new wealth in building civic society. Church and trade unions also have major contributions to make.
It is timely to rethink what it means to be a citizen in a 21st-century republic. I believe that at the heart of a vibrant civic society there must be a clear public philosophy to inform the shared values of our civic culture.
In the Irish Republic such values are rooted in civic republicanism, though we have greatly neglected to nurture or articulate them. Given that in 2016 we will celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Proclamation it is now timely to freshly articulate a civic republican concept of active citizenship - a tradition of citizenship which reaches back to Aristotle and Cicero.
In this tradition freedom, in its fullest sense, consists of active self-government by all citizens based upon equality of opportunity to participate in public matters and for the common good. As the Taoiseach told The Wheel conference: "The quality of life in society, and the ultimate health of our communities, depends on the willingness of people to become involved and active. Active on behalf of themselves and their families, their communities and the more vulnerable members of society. Happy the society that has people who act rather than lament; who organise rather than complain; who accept a personal responsibility rather than walk by on the other side."
• Dr Fergus O'Ferrall is director of the Adelaide Hospital Society, outgoing chair of The Wheel and author of Citizenship and Public Service (2000)