Fianna Fáil's social consciousness

Seamus Brennan echoed some of Bertie Ahern's recent comments about social consciousness in a speech that he made at the weekend.
"Economic, social and cultural success does not cure all ills – it comes at a price. Ireland must now face up to new pressures and fresh challenges – what you could call the problems of swift and remarkable success," he opined.

"I am struck, for example, by how many Irish people are increasingly displaying what I view as selfishness, impatience and, even, an arrogance. This to me is something that runs against the grain of the humanity and decency that we as a nation have always prided ourselves on."

The new challenge is to retain these traits, he said, and the current generation will be judged on how it harnesses the economic success to improve the quality of life for everybody. How the wealth is distributed among children, the elderly and disadvantaged groups will be the test, he added.

He rued how couples were under bigger pressures nowadays with commuting as well as rent and mortgage payments. "With the pace of life today it has become more difficult for people to maintain strong and stable relationships," he suggested.

All of which may well be pertinent and accurate analysis, something with which many people might agree.

But how well does this Government, which has been in power now for nearly nine years, rate on providing leadership on those issues? Is it guilty of creating many of the problems and of failing to address them?

Has this Government not concentrated unduly on economic success as a barometer of its own performance? Will it not seek re-election on the basis that it has overseen economic growth and that only it can be trusted in that regard? How well has the Government performed in providing for the under-privileged?

Does the Government not bear responsibility for the mess that it has been planning in this country, that has led to urban sprawl, lengthy commutes and massively increasing house prices?

And why is that Brennan and Ahern sound like they are leaders of the opposition rather than the Government? Is this a new tactic to curry favour with the protest vote come the next election?