Remarks at the Trinity Economic Forum
Dublin, 3rd February 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tá an-áthas orm a bheith in bhur gcuideachta anseo inniu le haghaidh seoladh Fhóram Eacnamaíoch Choláiste na Tríonóide, tionscnamh atá spreagúil agus an-tráthúil. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le Patrick Lynch as an gcuireadh fial seo agus molaim sibh go léir as páirt a ghlacadh san fhóram fíorthábhachtach seo.
There are many questions that need to be raised in public discourse here in Ireland if we are to restore not just our economic growth in financial terms, but confidence in political economy as a discipline and source of policy choice, as well as confidence in ourselves as a people and society. We need to rebuild a sense of trust and community so that we can build a new economy predicated on a shared common good rather than speculative aspirations for individual aggrandizement far removed from the real economy in a national or international traded sense.
When I was inaugurated as President of Ireland last year I stated that we must seek to build together an active, inclusive citizenship; I also stressed the importance of citizens of all ages making their own imaginative and practical contribution to the shaping of a shared future. An event like this one here today truly reassures me that we have many young and active citizens anxious to play their part in crafting the Ireland in which they wish to live, work and rear their families in the future; young people who have the will to participate and the imagination to seize the opportunities that comes their way; to ‘be the arrow and not the target’ of the society they wish to shape and share in the years ahead.
Last week the World Economic Forum was held in Switzerland with the theme “Great Transformation – Shaping New Models”. I was particularly struck by the words of Professor Klaus Schwab on the theme of transformation that dominated this year’s proceedings. He asks hard questions about the nature and sustainability of economic growth into the future and its environmental and social impacts and costs. He also asks how economic gains should be distributed and concludes:
“The time has come to embrace a much more holistic, inclusive and qualitative approach to economic development, based on the ‘stakeholder’ and not on a pure ‘shareholder’ concept.”
The very difficult circumstances that we as a nation find ourselves in today clearly demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between economics and the well-being of society. Economics is essentially about choice and is now at the heart of all decision making. Individuals, businesses and Governments all face very difficult decisions and choices in terms of allocating increasingly scarce resources. The assumptions underlying economic science, and their outworking in policy application, not only influence the hard decisions of Government but also permeate through everyday life, impacting on the increasingly complex and challenging problems faced by individuals and families. We know that the present economic morass through which we are struggling did not come about by accident. We know it came about because of a failed paradigm of economic policy, undeclared assumptions, skewed values, and the growth of a culture where our assets were valued and utilised on purely material considerations. It was a version of economics that was rooted in a radical individualism and a theory of infallible efficient markets delivered through policies of light or no regulation. We are all now grappling with the enormous consequences of that failure and must now move forward to a better model – one that will build social cohesion and provide a sustainable basis for economic development. We must reject the notion of normative citizens being reduced to the status of disaggregated rational utility maximisers in our theories and policies.
From the earliest days of the study of global economics, matters of serious ethical import were up for discussion according to whichever model was favoured. This is still true today. Those who form public policy at every turn must face up to serious trade-offs between efficiency and equality. Economic development cannot be seen in isolation from the enormous impact it has on societal norms and values. Nor can it be seen as a compartmentalised space where the role of ethics is somehow deemed to be of peripheral concern or even of abstract irrelevance. Neither can we ignore the richness of such intuitive wisdom as is located in the collective memory of those societies and groups towards whom models based on discredited Modernisation Theory, with its assumptions of developed and backward societies and flawed methodology is often directed.
As we move forward we will have an opportunity to close the gaps that have been created between morality, ethics and economic and social policy; an opportunity to move away, in fact, from a de-peopled economy constructed exclusively on self-interested and short-term needs to the exclusion of all else. We can, once again, return to an economic model that protects the common interest, recognises the worth of collective decision making and understands the negative consequences of a completely laissez faire approach to the operation of market mechanisms.
New economics and new policies must draw on a wider and richer cultural basis. The collective character of economics must be restored as we recognise the intrinsic flaws in the principle that economic impulse is inherently individualistic.
If we are to craft a healthy, equal and inclusive society we need a strong vision that can see clearly beyond the baleful consequences of the radical individualism which threatened, in recent years, to kill our social interdependence and inflicted the hurts of unemployment, hugely reduced incomes, negative equity and young people departing from our airports every week in search of a better life.
As we create a different version of our Irishness, we must not forget to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured and that market fundamentalism should not take priority over social justice and community cohesion. We must also have the intellectual courage to imagine different futures and seek to achieve them.
We know that new models need to be developed if we are to move swiftly out of recession and also meet the very serious global challenges now facing the human race. There are growing inequities between the developing world and the developed world with regard to the distribution of wealth and the rights of the labour force. Developed countries are facing their own crises with rising unemployment and recession and innovative solutions will be required to underpin creative entrepreneurship and job creation. With globalisation and technological innovations the world is becoming ever-smaller and more inter-dependent but, with the differing speeds of capital and labour ever creating new issues in labour rights, new inequalities are also emerging.
Chun teacht slán as an gcruachás ina bhfuil ár dtír faoi láthair, beidh orainn, muintir na hÉireann, muinín a bheith againn as ár gcumas mar náisiún, chun na fadhbanna reatha a shárú agus tosú arís le fís den achmhainneacht is féidir a fhíorú má ghníomhaimid ar ár láidreachtaí.
In this country our key resource is our people. Irish people are known worldwide for their creativity and innovation and we must build upon that reputation. This country is full of talented, creative and generous people and we need to harness those attributes, abilities, and skills to create a positive roadmap towards our shared futures. Our future will be built on our ingenuity if we provide the best environment to allow our citizens to think reflectively and ethically, innovate, compete globally and create the jobs of the future.
We have in the past, and continue today, to generate a work force of motivated people that are adaptable and flexible, a generation of innovative thinkers that will have many jobs and careers over their lifetime. We are fortunate to have educational institutions that do not just disseminate data but give their students the space to think and grow as rounded human beings and the intellectual tools to create knowledge. In this way Ireland can nurture its capacity to generate new knowledge within and across our academic institutions and enterprise. And we can increase our capacity to use new knowledge, wherever generated, in an interactive and open system of innovation – a system that does not compartmentalise between the liberal arts and the sciences but appreciates and promotes the fertile common ground that can be cultivated through fruitful multi-disciplinary approaches.
Ireland has a leading role to play on the world stage and we must strengthen every strand of our international reputation - from culture and the arts to business innovation to humanitarian and peacekeeping work to the contributions made by the Irish in so many countries. As we rebuild and restore Ireland’s reputation abroad, we must highlight the best of our traditions, as well as that wonderful spark of innovation that so defines our national character.
As the newly elected President of our country, I am very conscious that for the first time in many years young people now graduating from college are faced with very uncertain futures. However, it is recognised that Ireland’s higher education system has been the foundation of our economic development in the past and will continue to play an important, in fact a vital, role in re-imagining a future economy that is innovative, efficient, sustainable and constructed on strong ethics and moral principles that conduce to a healthy and cohesive society.
It is clear to me that the students who have gathered here today to consider issues of such fundamental importance to Ireland’s future development are not content to just assimilate the existing body of theory and knowledge, but wish to use their knowledge and learning, as well as their idealism and social concern, to directly influence the debate on what kind of economy and, indeed, what kind of society (because both are inextricably linked) will follow in the footsteps of the expired Celtic Tiger. A reversion to old models whose success was both transitory and illusory, and ultimately caused untold misery, will not suffice.
I stated recently that, as a country, we need new ideas and new thinking if we are to restore strength to our fragile economy. To navigate successfully through today’s troubled, uncertain and probably uncharted waters, now, more than ever before, we need people like you with the confidence to question failed assumptions, the imagination to consider bold new strategies and the idealism to care deeply about the kind of Ireland that you and your children wish to live in.
The impetus for this forum has come from students who in their wisdom, know perfectly well that re-building Ireland in a new image will require innovative ideas and the pro-active engagement of this upcoming generation of thinkers and future leaders. We can begin the battle for Ireland’s future in some small way today in the initiation of a critical discourse about innovative economic approaches in these turbulent times.
I thank you all for giving me the opportunity to address you here this evening. It is truly uplifting to see so many young people willing to contribute and to play their part in shaping a future that we can all be proud of.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.