Madam, – Congratulations on your “Renewing the Republic” series which began with Declan Kiberd (Weekend Review, March 13th). Such a forum for public debate is long overdue in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland.
Yes, our “sclerotic political system” demonstrates an inability to even imagine new ways to improve Irish society. This is nowhere more evident than in the slavish following of what has proven time and again to be a dysfunctional economic system. Are we really to believe, as most of our politicians seem to expect, that the solution to our woes is merely to fine-tune the economic “fundamentals” in preparation for another headlong rush into conspicuous consumption.
Leaving all political ideologies aside, commonsense would surely dictate that there is something seriously wrong with our system of economics if our economic wellbeing is dependent on increasing our consumption levels to those that are plainly unsustainable.
There must be a better way forward. Exploring alternative ways of organising ourselves is surely the role of political leadership, a role that remains presently unfulfilled in modern Ireland. – Yours, etc,