Would Michael Collins and the other political and military leaders of his time think their sacrifices had been in vain were they to witness the Ireland of today? The question was posed yesterday by Prof Risteard Mulcahy at the annual Collins commemoration at Beal na mBlath, Co Cork.
Prof Mulcahy, son of Richard Mulcahy, the IRA chief of staff between 1918 and 1922, was delivering the oration.
What would Collins and the first leaders of the State have thought, he asked, "if they were to witness the progress of materialism and the obsession with money and personal power in recent times, the Celtic Tiger, the corruption which is infiltrating our political, professional and public lives?
"Are our changing mores and gathering attitudes of cynicism and lack of trust undoing the undoubted advantages we should enjoy through progress in science and education? Are these trends in our society peculiar to the new Ireland or an integral part of a wider process of globalisation?"
Prof Mulcahy said there were still many people in Ireland who lived according to the Christian ideals of honesty and integrity.
"But, in matters of the environment and a concern for nature and creation, we get little leadership from our politicians and churches. Public concerns seem to be judged in terms of material wealth, although it is obvious that the pursuit of wealth brings little happiness unless it is secondary to a real concern for humanity and nature, and a contempt and rejection of dishonesty in all its forms."
Although we might think we had achieved much in terms of political freedom and material wealth since Collins's day, he went on, "we need leaders of the same stature as they if we are to meet the serious moral and social challenges of our time". He continued: "One detects a lack of concern and a general attitude of indifference or cynicism about the current deterioration in the mores of our society. Without the influence of the people, the politicians can or will do nothing."
Quoting Collins, he said: "We have to build a new civilisation on the foundations of the old. And it is no good to look to political leaders, but our people must look to themselves."
The charge of corruption which now tainted some of our political leaders must make us uneasy, he continued, and he warned that if the "stigma of corruption" spread to the Garda and the Army, "we must feel anxious about the future of our society".
Today, therefore, "we are just as much in need of dedicated, disinterested and altruistic leaders to save us from the worst effects of materialism". To find such people to guide us we may have to change our current system of electing public representatives.
"Our Dail deputies are less effective because of the present electoral system. They cannot fulfil their important parliamentary duties because they need to maintain a strong constituency presence and because they are poorly paid for their full-time work."
