How can the Government talk about "Making Ireland's Development Sustainable" - the title of its review published yesterday - in the wake of this week?s census figures graphically illustrating the population explosion in the counties surrounding Dublin?
The creation of an ever-widening commuter belt dependent on the capital is utterly unsustainable, not just in terms of the huge volumes of additional traffic it generates or the acreage of good acricultural land sacrificed for housing and roads, but also in terms of balanced regional development and, even more importantly, quality of life.
There have been many definitions or interpretations of "sustainable development", since the term became one of the mantras of the Brundtland Report. According to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, "at its heart, it's about people. It's about ensuring that we, as well as people in other parts of the world and later generations, enjoy economic prosperity, social progrss and a high quality environment. It¹s about getting these three elements working together, rather than against each other, and so delivering a better overall quality of life for all".
Easier said than done, especially in a State where by most indicators we have failed to de-couple economic growth from widespread environmental degradation. Indeed, it could well be argued that the overall picture would be even bleaker were it not for the fact that we must comply with a growing body of EU directives on the environment, or at least make some progress towards transposing them into Irish law.
The purpose of the yesterday's review is to suggest that Ireland is making some progress towards the elusive goal of achieving development that would be environmentally sustainable in the run-up to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next month. Mr Cullen and his Cabinet colleagues would do well to take on board its conslusion that "there is a need, in particular, to remedy problems inherited from the past, to face up to the relentless pressures being placed on the environment today, and to ensure that problems are not built-up for the future". That is a challenge that faces us all, whatever role we play in Irish society.