Prevailing opinion stunts debate - professor

One of the main weaknesses of public discourse in this State is the lack of deviation from one dominant mindset, suggested Prof Joe Lee at the Are We Forgetting Something? conference.

In his view about 80 per cent of media contributors have "pretty well the same mindset". "We moved from a largely unquestioning obedience as Catholics (and were probably unfitted to cope with the concept of internal debate post-Vatican II) to a new order of authority (in the media), with 80 per cent sharing a similar outlook."

We moved from one order of authority to another without ever moving through a classic liberal phase. In reality, "liberal Ireland is a very small beachhead," he said.

He felt the centralisation of authority in Dublin to be generally dangerous. There was the centralisation of bureaucratic power around Kildare Street, Merrion Square, Ballsbridge, and of intellectual power with UCD, TCD, and DCU.

"I can't think of another European country where there is so much university centralisation." Indeed it was very rare to see a capital abroad as a university centre.

There was also the centralisation of the media, and the peer group pressure within, which helped to create the 80 per cent uniformity of which he spoke. Dr Mary Redmond, founder of the Irish Hospice Foundation, called on voluntary groups to get together in a loose association of some sort so they could provide "a powerful countervailing view . . . capable of many things including of influencing and, even, setting the agenda for this nation".

At present "voluntarism" was dotted around the margins of public and private life. It was weak in places, strong in others, disorganised in some, organised in others. It needed to be brought to the centre. What she was suggesting was political, but not in a party political way.

Next Monday at 2 p.m., in the Law Society, Blackhall Place, Dublin, she said a meeting would take place of people in the voluntary sector to explore the possibility of coming together in partner ship as a more cohesive force. All interested parties were invited.

Mr David Begg of Concern spoke of the need for reform of the corporate and institutional sector in the context of increased globalisation. The shift in the balance of power towards these sectors with globalisation would make the existing order of control and governance non-viable in the longer term.

He argued that the nation state, even as its powers diminished vis-a-vis the multinationals, must ensure "that governance structure of these bodies serve social interests and not just those of shareholders."

The collapse of Marxism and Christianity meant that globalisation was taking place without an ethic with which to tackle them forces of inequality released by the new order. It was driven by market forces and was a very uneven process.