Dr. Se?n Healy:

The answer to the Deputy's question is a very straightforward "Yes". Policy processes tended for a long time to give more priority to individuals and put more responsibility on individuals to reach goals. Systems have been ignored or certainly have not been attended to as much as they need to be. The classic example from an Irish point of view is that we have always consistently thought in policy terms of getting the economy right and everything else will follow. That is a fallacy. We have done a terrific job with the economy but we see where we are on everything from housing to health and a lot of other issues. We are talking about climate and all the rest of it today.

The key requirement is to understand that integration is critical. We cannot do one piece without the other. Of course we want a thriving economy, but to have a thriving economy, we must have decent services and that requires just taxation. If we are to put those three aspects in place and make them effective, we need participation by people generally in shaping the decisions that affect them. They must no longer accept the idea that they elect politicians once every five years and need pay no attention to them other than at that time. We need better real and better public participation. For all of that to happen, as has been pointed out, we need sustainability. That must include environmental sustainability, economic sustainability - the economic system has to be sustainable - and social sustainability. If we do not have social sustainability, people will not want to live in the society we are building. The bottom line is these five areas must be addressed simultaneously and with equal intensity and importance. If we do not do that, we will not deal with the systems failures we are currently facing. We will again find ourselves putting far too much emphasis on the responsibility of individuals and far too little emphasis on the importance of systems in generating outcomes we need.