ON THE ADJOURNMENT: A recess opportunity for backbench TDs and senators to sound off This week: Mae Sexton TD on the danger of eroding the values that have defined our Irishness
Recent debate on the Government decentralisation programme has, as usual, given oxygen to the extremist views, with those passionately in favour supported by communities set to benefit, equally matched by vested interest groups opposed to change, which would impinge on their current lifestyle.
Throw in to the mix the political opportunists and you get the present debacle. As a rural TD I am obviously in support of a plan which I envisage will benefit the country as a whole through long-awaited and badly-needed balanced regional development. I feel that the time has now come for a period of reflection to allow the views of the more balanced middle ground to be aired.
While the economy is in good shape with more people than ever at work - people talk of an arrogant and uncaring Government. So what is wrong? Are we, as a society, struggling to cope with an ever-changing world? While the talk is of an infrastructural deficit - have we also perhaps a social deficit? Has our new-found comfort zone so fundamentally changed the fabric of Irish society that we are in danger of losing the very values that have defined Irishness over the decades?
Unless greater emphasis is placed on balanced regional development, coupled with a greater focus on embracing the marginalised and those in need of support in our society, I fear we will lose those values. Whether defined geographically, through religious beliefs, common interests, social groups, senior citizens, widow/ers, people's need to belong is as strong as ever, but their actual sense is one of growing isolation.
Leaving home at 7 a.m. commuting to work, and returning 12 hours later, is not what young couples want. Such a life produces nothing more than a society of individuals and will, in the long-term, contribute to the breakdown of the community model we have grown up in.
A community where people took responsibility for themselves, their family, their extended family and the community in which they lived is fast disappearing.
We as politicians must rise to the challenge of providing the leadership that will ensure the provision of adequate funding for projects such as decentralisation which will, I have no doubt, reawaken the spirit and sense of community which we are in imminent danger of losing.
Political life in Ireland is based on social interaction and is, thankfully, free of the type of politics favoured in Brussels or Washington where politicians stand among interest and lobby groups acting like a one-man-band, juggler, and referee combined. I much prefer the Irish model.
For example, in my constituency of Longford-Roscommon we have the highest proportion of carers in the country - 3,763 to be exact.
I am acutely conscious of the limitations of supports that exist for them.
The carer's allowance/benefit/respite/home help and nursing home subventions are well-intentioned, but they have constraints.
These can certainly be addressed in small part by increasing carers' allowances by €10, €15, or €20 per week - but while they all remain means-tested there are always going to be those who will frustratingly just exceed these limits. What would impress the families of carers would be for a better way of organising and financing the care services.
With one year already passed since the publication of the Mercer Report on Financing Long-Term Care and Prof Eamon O'Shea's recommendations on a nursing home subvention scheme, I am anxious that real changes take place now, so that the incremental changes which currently occur are replaced by a redesign of the whole care system.
These two reports recognise that it is that fundamental change that is required, and not the headline grabbing proposition to abolish the means test.
In a population of four million people, Mercer calculates that 153,000 are in need of long-term care of one kind or another.
This figure will rise to 171,000 in 2011. This means that most of us - whether 60, 70, 80, or 90 - can look forward confidently to a relatively healthy and independent life. But for those who do need care, the worry and stress is very great indeed.
Will the State be there to support them? Will personal finance be adequate or will the strain be too much on spouses/families, and none of this takes into account the personal trauma associated with losing a loved one to dementia? As a society we have failed to deal with the real worry of the open-ended commitment often borne alone, and our current system and schemes do not adequately deal with those families in need of long-term care and support.
It is fundamental that we address the bigger issue, and in doing so, we set about redressing the erosion of the better aspects of Irish society as we know it.
Only then will we have started rebuilding our communities and restoring our values.
It is a challenge I set myself as a politician and I have trust and confidence that the public will embrace that challenge too.
If we approach decentralisation in the same mindset and spirit, I believe it can work - perhaps not in the timeframe envisaged - but what about it? It is the principle that is important and its success will pay dividends beyond monetary measure - it will be a reinvestment in our greatest asset - our people.
Mae Sexton TD is PD spokesperson on regional development. Next week: Fianna Fáil's Senator Cyprian Brady