Speech by Fine Gael Deputy Leader Richard Bruton TD to the Just Society seminar on Monday 26th January 2004
"The most important challenge for Fine Gael is to develop a political framework that can deliver a more just society. Such a framework must be built on a clear statement of values. Such values give purpose and meaning to efforts towards the creation of wealth and the development of public policy. Fine Gael's pursuit of social justice is founded on several key principles.
Ø Equality of opportunity
Ø Self reliant citizens exercising control over their lives
Ø Solidarity with people who need help
Ø Strong families and strong communities
"These values have their roots in Irish tradition and in the concept of a social contract. They define both rights and responsibilities in a just society. It is of course much easier to espouse values than to give them real expression by using them to define:
Ø what it is we wish to defend and,
Ø what it is we wish to change.
"Fine Gael's work to restate its values is not to retreat to old certainties. Its purpose is to help us to understand changes which are occurring and to manage that change.
"In the tumult of every day life and in the face of conflicting demands, it is easy to lose these bearings. Every day we see these principles trampled into the ground. Take equality of opportunity:
Ø The educational system in Ireland clearly reinforces inequality rather than removes it. Literacy problems and early school leaving are concentrated among the least well off. The state's greatest investment goes to those who can compete for entry to the top professions.
Ø Discrimination is rampant in our health and housing policies.
Ø Where is the justice when many families are beggared to pay for nursing home care while others get care for an affordable contribution? Where is the justice when so many families are struggling to pay private rents without a farthing of state support, while others get generous support?
Ø People are still trapped in poverty by many features of our welfare system instead of being helped to move on.
"In far too many areas, Ireland has failed to develop a fair and open process where self-reliant citizens can exercise control over their own lives:
Ø Political patronage is still a strong feature of Ireland's political culture.
Ø The accountability of public institutions falls far short of an acceptable standard.
Ø Time and again the interests of producers are taking a precedent over the interests of consumers and people feel powerless in a rip off society.
"Have we developed good systems for delivering social solidarity? As the economy surged and gave wider choices to many, others have been caught in the backwash. All too often unemployment, family breakdown, substance abuse, illness and bereavement are faced alone. The old, the poor, the migrant, the carer, the slow learner, the mentally ill, don't see much solidarity from the state in modern Ireland. Public spending may have doubled in just six years, but it is difficult to see the improvement in their lot. After the election spree, when cuts had to be found, they were found not in the big bureaucracies, but in the crumbs that filtered down to people with real needs.
"The state struggles to provide the solidarity which any civilized community must demonstrate. Its attempts to professionalise the delivery of many human needs have fallen short. As its policies are found wanting, too often the system circles the wagon and conceals the failings from sight. Our values of social justice must expose this Hidden Ireland.
STRONG COMMUNITIES?
"Are we building strong communities and strong families able to cope?
"Unfortunately the strength of our communities has been one of the big casualties in our race for economic progress. This progress has brought a relentless increase in demand for larger houses, for second holidays, for surround sound entertainment systems, for virtual reality, for the glitz of international icons. This is understandable, but there is a sense in which we are seeking refuge in a well-furnished capsule while around us the pillars which buttress strong communities crumble away.
"Efforts to play catch up in public infrastructure are only a partial response. These efforts themselves have got bogged down by capacity problems. Attempts to break bottlenecks have perversely further eroded community participation. We have created something of a vicious cycle where problems in our community have led to a growing centralisation of power by the state as it tries to address them, but this is turn weakens those communities.
Ø The strength for communities has been hurt by hapless developer-led planning policy.
Ø The strength of our communities has been damaged by the almost complete absence of real devolution of power from our strong centralised bureaucracies.
Ø Communities feel they are on a treadmill whose speed they cannot control. There is a sense in which no one seems to be in charge.
"This dislocation has put increasing stress on families. The state has relied almost entirely on the family to create a framework within which children can achieve their potential.
"Major social and cultural changes have occurred that have put increasing pressure on the family:
Ø The increased rate of parental separation and divorce,
Ø The increased number of lone parents,
Ø The continued increase in the participation of both parents in the workforce,
Ø A decline of the influence of religion and the church,
Ø A growing urbanisation of our population and the dominance of commuting,
Ø The increasing amount of solitary recreation,
Ø The separation of families from their extended family network,
Ø The housing crisis forcing young families into unsuitable accommodation.
"The state has not responded to these new challenges adequately. Policies to promote the positive well-being of children are minimal. Policies to remedy cases of serious marginalisation of children have been far from successful. They are characterised by reactive and palliative fire fighting rather than a strategic or preventative policies.
"We are at a watershed in respect of children's rights in Ireland. We can no longer plead ignorance or a lack of resources for failing to vindicate the rights of children. We must stake out new ground in this area. We need to create a framework which promotes and supports the ability of both parents to help with rearing children. This task has received scant recognition in our tax and welfare policies. It has received scant recognition in the policies designed to promote better working conditions. We have unconsciously put penalties in place that weakened the support to two parents living together to rear their children.
"The task for Fine Gael is to challenge complacency in the many areas where social justice is not being delivered. We must question the false consensus which tolerates many of these shortcomings. We must champion new policies capable of creating the just society which Declan Costello sketched out for Fine Gael almost forty years ago."
