THE ECONOMIC crisis was “fundamentally a collapse of ethics”, President Mary McAleese said yesterday as she urged people to put social concern first when Ireland returned to growth.
“It is fundamentally fuelled by an ethical crisis, by a movement away from social concern, by a movement right into the heart of selfish concern,” she said.
She was speaking at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville, as she gave the first Barat lecture, in memory of St Madeleine Sophie Barat.
Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in France in 1800 and was canonised in 1925 and named St Madeleine.
The Society of the Sacred Heart handed over control of the school on the Mount Anville campus to a lay trust in 2007.
Mrs McAleese said: “What happened . . . in our own country really is characterised by almost a complete abandonment of social concern in some quarters, a much greater concern with the self, with bonuses, with me, and not with the more general world around.”
She said this generation had had a “chastening and horrible” lesson in what could happen when people lost sight of social concern. “In time . . . our country will return to prosperity, with the vast majority of our people back to work and hopefully with the public finances restored to order.”
The President added: “But underpinning that Ireland that we are now, right this moment, in the process of making and remaking, we have this chance to learn from the mistakes that have been made, to be very chastened by the ravages of selfish individualism and to put at the heart of what we do in this moment . . . a new communal concern.”
She also called on people to help and encourage others through these difficult times. Mrs McAleese said there was a lot of anger and indignation about. “There’s a lot of anger around that what appeared to be credible enterprise in our country turned out of course to be high-risk speculation that has jeopardised the economic well-being of more than one generation.”
Margaret Martin, vice chairwoman of Mount Anville Sacred Heart Schools Trust, said Ireland’s social awareness and ideals became somewhat distorted during the boom years. The focus on education seemed to prioritise league tables and high academic achievement, she said.
“We now need a renewed focus to develop in young people a broad range of skills and a global perspective,” she added.
