Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell has advised the public ahead of the new Dáil sitting for the first time on Wednesday that their “expectations of politics and government must be tempered with realism”.
The cleric said in a statement in advance of the 34th Dáil assembling at Leinster House that this was the case “even if our land is experiencing a time of unprecedented revenue flows” – a reference to the recent boom in corporate tax revenues collected by the State.
“Politics – for all that we say about it – is, in the end, ‘a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good’”, said Archbishop Farrell, quoting Pope Francis.
“While wise political leadership and good government is necessary in every age, our age – with increasing political polarisation across the globe, with greater inequality between and within rich and poor nations, and with the deepening climate crisis – is in profound need of wise and prudent governments.”
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Acknowledging that it may take “some weeks” to form a new government, he felt it was “appropriate to give thanks” for a society “where differences are addressed through public debate, and power transfers peacefully on the basis of the rule of law.”
The Archbishop pointed on the need to focus on “long-term, strategic projects” – few of which are “vote-getters”: water, transport infrastructure, sustainable healthcare, security and the “green transition”.
That did not “render them any less vital for everyone in our country”, he said.
This was a moment, as citizens, “to reflect on our own responsibilities to support what is right and assert what is good”, he said.
“Active citizens in a flourishing civil society are no less important than the institutions of government in securing the wellbeing of the people,” he said.
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