President McAleese has proffered a broad social agenda for future governments in her address to both Houses of the Oireachtas. Concepts such as imagination, joy, religion and the realisation of dreams were intrinsic elements of her vision of an inclusive and prosperous Ireland in the 21st century. Economic growth and increasing wealth are, for her, means to an end; developments that can allow the people of the island to live at peace with one another while sharing their good fortune with immigrants and with the developing countries of the world.
In view of the constitutional restrictions that inhibit the President from straying into areas of policy or political controversy, the speech was as forthright as could be expected. Well crafted and delivered, it drew applause from all sides in the chamber. Given the occasion - the cusp between millennia - she ranged backwards and forwards in time, recognising past failures and successes before laying special emphasis on the shadows that are lifting in Northern Ireland. People were overcoming deep divisions there, she said, and building a decent society, respectful of difference, rooted in human rights, at ease with all who shared the island. Collective energies were being harnessed to build an Ireland where divisions, whether in the mind or on the map, would be transcended by shared prosperity, a spirit of co-operative endeavour and a new use of language, kinder and more nuanced than before.
It is a generous and inclusive vision. The general tenor of the President's remarks was echoed by the party leaders. There were, however, differences in emphasis. While the opposition parties adopted an assertive approach to the need for social engineering, the Government parties responded with a "steady as she goes" approach to economic and social policy. There was general agreement that Ireland was becoming a multi-racial society and an acceptance that this development required advance planning. In the same way, the benefits of social partnership were uncontested. But the pursuit of economic growth as an intrinsic good was challenged by the opposition parties. Quality of life took precedence for Mr John Bruton of Fine Gael and he rejected the United States' economic model which, he said, produced private affluence and public squalor. From the same starting point, Mr Ruairi Quinn of the Labour Party advocated a high-spending social programme that would invest in health, education and services for the elderly while eliminating poverty and homelessness. For their part, both the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, pointed to the social and economic progress that had already been made and promised more of the same.
A stock-taking exercise can serve as a useful impetus for future change and President McAleese has performed a political service by articulating some of choices open to us as a society. Her views will help to shape public debate on a range of important issues and will almost certainly impact on government and party policy. We have come some distance in terms of economic success, cultural confidence and a new political dispensation in Northern Ireland. It is a time of hope. The shadows of the past are lifting. And, as they do, we confront a question posed by the President: will we share our new-found prosperity and apply our energy and resources to making Ireland a more egalitarian society ?