Madam, – I am disappointed that no political party has come up with one of the simplest answers to our current economic and social woes. This is the concept of “one job in every family”. By introducing individualisation, Charlie McCreevy was one of the main progenitors of the rush to bigger houses, bigger debts, and bigger creches, and planted in this nation’s minds the idea that the only worthwhile contribution any adult, including parents of young children, could make to society was through work outside the home.
What a cruel irony it now seems to all those who are unemployed! Why can’t we reverse this, in a completely gender-blind way, and thereby help to ensure that there is a job for one adult earner per family? – Is mise,