On the TownLeaders and thinkers gathered in a Dublin hotel this week for the launch of Political Choice and Democratic Freedom in Ireland. The book, which comprises contributions from "40 leading Irish thinkers", is based on the proceedings of the MacGill Summer School.
"It's true to say that we are very fortunate that we have so many thinkers of all classes and creeds," said Joe Mulholland, director of the MacGill Summer School and editor and publisher of the new book.
Publishing the book was, he said, an attempt to address "worries about politics and the way it's going, particularly when one sees the continuing drop in numbers who turn out to vote . . . There's this cynicism and scepticism about politics, even in new democracies in eastern Europe".
"We have seen in Europe in the past how when people become disillusioned and cynical, democracy can slip away so quietly and be replaced by something else," Mulholland added.
Michael McDowell TD, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who launched the book, praised the MacGill Summer School, saying: "It's strange that we have so few worthwhile think tanks . . . We do need occasions when people take time out to reflect."
Speaking about the political choices in Ireland, he said: "There's not a left-right split in Irish politics worth talking about. The left-right split is increasingly inapt to describe society in Ireland . . . The word 'liberal' as applied to economics is a dirty word. We cannot be part of an upstairs-downstairs morality.
"I hope we are on the edge of developing a debate in Ireland and getting away from the lazy stereotypes which have failed in the past."
Among those at the launch were Maurice Manning, president of the Human Rights Commission; John Sorohan, former chairman of the RTÉ Authority; art historian Síle Connaughton-Deeny, with her daughter, Cordaella; and contributors John Gormley TD, chairman of the Green Party, and Paul Cullen, of The Irish Times.