RENEWING THE REPUBLIC:I don't want to be part of another lost generation; I want reform to give power back to the people, writes SHANE FITZGERALD
WHY ARE we not outraged? Unemployment is nearly 13 per cent. Our budget deficit is over 11 per cent of GDP. Class sizes have increased, and funding for special needs children has been cut.
Our graduates are leaving Ireland once again in search of work. Billions of taxpayers’ money has been used to bail out the banks.
We have gone from a roaring Celtic Tiger to a bankrupt pig; a member of the Piigs group of the five most troubled economies in the EU – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain.
The boom was wasted by government and now we are all suffering. Politicians have failed us. Irish politics itself has failed but it seems that no matter how bad things get, the Irish public, myself included, are resigned to being governed by a class of individuals in whom they no longer place any trust. Brian Lenihan admitted there would be riots in France if he tried to deliver his harsh budget cuts over there.
How has it all gone so terribly wrong, and why do we continue to put up with it?
Apathy has led us into this awful mess. Bad government and abuses of power will always arise when political leaders are not held to account. “When people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fear their people, there is liberty,” said Thomas Jefferson, third US president.
Fianna Fáil has been in power for too long and has forgotten that the electorate can bring down the government at any moment, not just at election time. The Opposition has been out of power for too long, resulting in uninspired policies that try to capture the centre ground.
Ireland has become a nation of apathy, and it is not hard to see why. Simply changing the government will not solve the problem.
It is the Irish public who need to change. Yes, we have been hard done by; and yes, the corrupt elite who caused the financial crisis are to blame, but we need to use this anger to change politics so it never happens again.
The most memorable, and arguably most passionate, demonstration that occurred in post-Celtic Tiger Dublin was the pensioners’ protest against the loss of the over-70s medical card. It is a damning indictment of the younger generations of Ireland that it was this group which struck the most fear into the Government and threatened to cause major instability unless its demands were met.
The decline in religious belief, coupled with the loss of faith in politics and the State, has given rise to a whole generation of young Irish with little to strive for other than individualistic self-fulfilment. We are the lost generation. We have lost our belief in religion, lost our faith in politics and the State, lost our duty of social responsibility. Some argue we have lost our morals and, ultimately, we lost our sense of what to live for.
Youth unemployment is around 33 per cent, yet there is not even a faint rumble of a student protest movement. We have been reared to be the most disengaged youth since the formation of the State.
I do not want to go down in history as part of the wasted generation whose only response to a great crisis in capitalism was to lick our wounds while awaiting the next boom.
Unfortunately emigration is back on the agenda for Ireland’s youth, and politicians offer little to entice us to return.
A whole army of bright, educated and talented young people are being left in reserve in the fight to renew the Republic. Our youth, who should be full of ideas, passion and reckless ambition, are not partaking in the important debate about what went wrong and what direction we now need to move in.
The Civil War politics of the two biggest parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, has alienated young people from political life as there is a general feeling that “all politicians are the same”. Can anyone remember any differing policies that divided parties in the 2007 general election?
The institutions of the State must be reformed to engage this lost generation. The first step to combating apathy and disillusionment in Ireland is to hand power and responsibility back to local people.
Community centres, schools, litter, planning proposals, business developments and anti-social behaviour are all issues that local people should be actively involved in.
Why should we hire a private firm to paint our schools when the students are perfectly capable of picking up a brush for an hour a week?
Residents should be encouraged to clean up their own streets instead of waiting for the council to do it.
A town should not have an off-licence if the local community overwhelmingly objects to it.
Neighbourhood watch groups are needed now more than ever to assist gardaí in tackling anti-social behaviour.
When people take responsibility for their own communities they will ensure that local functions are operating effectively.
Starting at local level would change the individualistic national psyche that has been encouraged during the boom years. This would progress to a national scale where Irish people are no longer passive voters who only contribute to political life every five years but who realise their duty to engage in public life.
When this happens politicians will be very fearful indeed, and we will see real change.
Irish people working hard on the ground to rebuild and renew this island will not tolerate incompetence from the top.
It is well known that vested interest groups hold much influence in Ireland. The extent of this has been exposed, discussed and commented on many times in this paper. There is a distinct lack of political will to challenge these powerful elite groups. We do not want or need another tribunal – we need leadership.
Politicians are afraid to touch this issue for fear of being brought down by these influential vested interests, but they are oblivious to the level of anger and frustration of Irish people on the ground.
The political party that tackles these elites head on will win the majority of voters.
Reforming local community institutions and engaging individuals in political life will accelerate this process and provide the public support required for the politicians bold and brave enough to finally break the stranglehold of self-interested elites over our island.
Strengthening local democracy would also pave the way for much-needed electoral reform. Our almost unique system of single transferable vote, proportional representation has many merits but it is not without faults. The biggest drawback is its function which keeps all politics local.
Ministers should not have to worry about every local issue of constituents when it distracts from important national problems.
Some sort of list system, used in various variations across Europe, combined with our existing PR, would be a promising alternative.
The list system allows a party to draw up a list of pre-selected candidates, and people vote for the party, not an individual, who they would like to govern the country.
The consequence is a national parliament that is free to concentrate on national issues.
A new generation of leaders must channel people’s disillusionment, and challenge the public to step up and help steer the country back on the right course.
JFK’s famous “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” speech may spring to mind but it is more than just talk. Barack Obama tapped into American’s desire for change and rode into the presidency on a huge wave of public support.
His greatest problem appears to be the image of him that developed in the American people’s mind – that he was some sort of superman figure who would turn the country around by himself. He can’t.
Leaders can only lead when people follow. Ireland needs a radical leader who understands the anger and frustrations on the ground, but who encourages individuals to take responsibility for themselves.
Leaders will lead the change, but it will be us citizens who will have to do the work.
Shane Fitzgerald is a graduate of UCD, where he studied economics and sociology. He lives in London and is seeking to establish himself as a freelance writer