Madam, – The Irish public has just been subjected to a barrage of publicity related to several public initiatives, among them “National Walk to School Week” (backed by An Taisce and the Department of Transport), “Social Inclusion Week”, which was organised by Dublin City Council’s Social Inclusion Unit, and “Fisheries Awareness Week”, which was brought to us by the seven (yes, seven) regional fisheries boards. This week, it’s hard to escape the marketing connected with “Say No to Ageism Week” (the Equality Authority), not to mention the EU-funded “European SME Week”.
While it’s certainly possible that some or all of these campaigns are in themselves worthy, the costs attached to them leave one with the impression that awareness of the parlous condition of the Government finances has not yet filtered through to the large and complex network of public bodies that comprises the machinery of the State.
In recent years these same bodies seem collectively to have adopted the role of social engineer, promoting “awareness” of everything from the health benefits of eating eggs to the challenges faced by those living with a disability. It is hard to understand how resources continue to be found for the provision of “soft” services such as the aforementioned, when examined in the context of the worst economic crisis since the foundation of the State.
In terms of budgetary prioritisation, it seems Government ministers and their officials need to become far better at distinguishing between “want” and “need”. To assist in this process, I would suggest the McCarthy report as a good starting point. – Yours, etc,