We're a society in need of a long-term vision but in our individualistic culture, many people - rich and poor, the powerful and the vulnerable, the working class and the middle class - feel that they have no stake or responsibility in planning for this collective future. We have grown cynical about politicians and the political process and while there has been a move towards partnership and consultation - through the Leader programmes, for example - scepticism and apathy are commonplace. Citizenship is in danger of becoming an alien concept.

The corporations and businesses which have creamed off vast profits thanks to advantageous tax laws now have an obligation to invest in the community, according to Labour Senator Joe Costello. The jewel in the Tiger's crown, Dublin's Financial Services Centre, is an isolated, hermetic world surrounded by ghettos with major problems of drug abuse, illiteracy and long-term unemployment.

"Corporations and businesses have a moral responsibility to be aware of the situation around them in a social context and not just isolate themselves. There is a vast pool of unpaid taxes out there to be collected and we need to show people that we have a fair and just system in terms of the collection and distribution of the country's wealth. The lack of citizenship and the individualistic approach that the country has taken has to be replaced with a 10-year-plan to eliminate poverty," he says.

"Partnership" is the trendy catchword used in Government circles to describe the process of consulting widely. In Senator Costello's view, those consulted should include businesses and communities, along with the usual cast list of local authorities and State agencies. "In the past, community representation has been shunned by local government, while businesses never wanted to be involved," he says.

Democratic Left TD Liz McManus is concerned that when communities do join together in a common purpose, their cause is too often "exclusive" and "reactionary", rather than inclusive and proactive.

"I am horrified at some of the changes that are occurring," she says. "The community organisation which is on the ground is phenomenal and these strengths are being used almost solely against others. Those who get involved in local issues are people who have something they want to protest against - such as travellers, asylum seekers and refugees. They are using the network in order to plan strategies which exclude and they are doing it extremely effectively."

There are two ultimately destructive motivations behind such community campaigns, in her view, "individualistic capitalist greed" and the fear of change. She observes that people are reluctant to consider political solutions or to help plan a long-term vision of the future. Can politicians ever interest people in the wider issues of collective responsibility and citizenship when there is such cynicism about the political process? "That is the central issue. But how do you re-ignite faith in the process? You have to rebuild people's trust."

Greater transparency and public accountability - such as making politicians' tax returns matters of record as they are in the US - could help to restore faith, in her view. There is also a need to involve many more types of people in local and national politics. "There is a class bias among representatives of Dail Eireann. Thirty per cent are teachers, for example, which bears no relation to the actual proportion in society. Sean Lemass wanted to see the Dail made up of businessmen, workers and housewives - and while the term `housewives' is old fashioned, I agree that the Dail should reflect society and quite clearly at the moment it does not," says McManus.

The success of Greystones Town Commission in creating a focus for the town and in giving the people a sense of community identity and values is a model of what can be done, she believes. In comparison, South Dublin County Council has no identity and should instead consist of "lots of little councils under one authority". Fianna Fail TD Pat Carey believes that the wide-ranging consultative process which has given the residents of Ballymun a sense of ownership of their community could be used as a model around the country, although some local politicians may resent such involvement. "They can feel a bit irritated by people meddling in what was traditionally their fiefdom, although I think we are opening our attitudes to people being involved."

"The review of local government which will come into action at the next local elections will allow for a more bottom-up approach at a local level," he says. The wretched sight of everyone at a South Dublin County Council meeting having to sit patiently through discussion of a single pothole will be over, replaced by area-based committees which can address issues at local level. The EU Urban Initiative is also influencing the way we handle local politics because as a condition of offering funding it requires indepth community consultation. An example would be in Finglas, where the £500,000 Tolka Park project played by the EU's rules and was rewarded with a grant of £300,000.

"The EU has drawn on experiences from Holland and places like that to move us towards a concept of subsidiarity, which means that decision making should be done at the closest level to the problem. We are slow learners but we are getting there," says Carey. But even if the opportunities to participate are there, people may be too exhausted from working to spend their evenings at committee meetings, he adds.

All the talk about involving people in politics is irrelevant unless we invest in people during the first five years of life, from birth to school-age, believes Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen. Otherwise, we are creating ghettos of people who are incapable of making decisions about their futures or of even seeing that they have futures. Young people need strong leadership and role models at local level to keep them on the right track.

"People see huge investment in the infrastructure, in tunnels and ring roads, but investment bypassing areas of social problems won't impact at all. The next programme of investment for Europe should be more focused on the social uplift of people."

He makes a good point, but none of that will be possible until we uplift politics to a level which inspires ordinary people - whatever their social class - to become involved in their democracy.