[article] Daily grind eroding community values, says Ahern

Navan Junction

Ruadhán MacCormaic, Irish Times, 09/10/2006

Pressures of modern life hinder people from playing a full role as citizens, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.


Mr Ahern added that a lack of time and the pressure on people to be high achievers in everything they did meant they took less interest in what was happening in their neighbourhood, their town or the country as a whole.

He was speaking on Saturday at the annual National Youth Conference, held this year under the theme of active citizenship. The conference was attended by youth work organisations and voluntary groups from around the country.

"There is nothing complicated about being an active citizen. It means taking an interest in what is happening in your neighbourhood, in your town or village and the country as a whole," Mr Ahern said.

"I do have a concern, however, that we are losing some of the community spirit which existed in the past."

It was his goal to encourage more people to participate in their locality, by joining community groups, voting in elections, volunteering or making an effort to welcome immigrants to Ireland, he added.

Mr Ahern pointed out that of the Republic's present population of over four million, 41 per cent are below the age of 25, compared to an EU average of 25 per cent.

Young people were therefore "an active and vital force" in the country's social, political and economic development.

The Taoiseach recently set up a Taskforce on Active Citizenship, a response to the decline in the numbers participating in and volunteering to organise a range of social and community activities.

He told participants at the conference that while young people had to be encouraged to assume a greater role in society, valuable work was already being done by many organisations in areas such as environmental improvement, care for the elderly and services for the disabled.

"The value of these projects is that they create a sense of collective community responsibility . . . and a sense of being members of a community which supports them and is supported by them," Mr Ahern said.

Minister for Youth Affairs Síle de Valera told the conference the Department of Education and Science will spend over €45 million on youth work activities this year.

© The Irish Times

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1009/1160167148677.html

Navan Junction

If we didn't spend so much time as active commuters then there might be more time for being active citizens.

At this point most people would settle for more time just to be active parents.

loyatemu

Bertie's right - if only someone would give him, say, 10 years in power to sort these things out, Ireland would be a much better place.

:mad:

jkgvfg

And a bit of cash here and there to keep him going while he is doing it!

I would love to be more involved in my local community but, as Navan_Junction says, by the time I am through the trawls of getting home, I'm only fit for the couch vegging in front of the television. And I doubt I would be of much help welcoming immigrants or meeting community groups with the mood I have on me after the commute.

Off topic, but how is there a pensions crisis/timebomb/end of life as we know it; if such a high percentage are still under 25?

Zebra3

loyatemu wrote:

Bertie's right - if only someone would give him, say, 10 years in power to sort these things out, Ireland would be a much better place.

:mad:

Yes, unreal, isn't it? That's what happens when you have a socialist :rolleyes: in hoc with builders.

I wouldn't mind a bung, I mean 'loan', from my 'mates' to help me buy a house in Drumcondra.

Metrobest

And what's the alternative? A slump coalition of Labour, Fine Gael and the Green Party?

That would spell disaster for the economy, disaster for Transport 21, disaster for Dublin.

As soon as Enda Kenny got into power, he'd divert all the Dublin transport funding into "Mayo 21", a network of motorways and TGVs to connect the farming communities of the Western seaboard. What's worse, the whole project would be delayed for years with the arms of Trevor Sargeant draped around every affected tree.

Say what you like about Bertie, he's the best of a bad lot.

lostexpectation

what this communitst ahern against progress and hardwork,

Navan Junction

Metrobest wrote:

And what's the alternative?

Good point. The opposition parties aren't promising anything at all, not even to implement T21.

D'Peoples Voice

loyatemu wrote:

Bertie's right - if only someone would give him, say, 10 years in power to sort these things out, Ireland would be a much better place.

:mad:

He did set-up the Dublin Transport Authority
http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=7055&lang=ENG&loc=1850
IMHO Life has never been the same since:D
I don't what we did before this authroity was set-up. The traffic must have been mental.
At least this body is ensuring that ALL forms of transport are integrated and we don't have to walk from one to the other.:D

Drax

Metrobest wrote:

As soon as Enda Kenny got into power, he'd divert all the Dublin transport funding into "Mayo 21", a network of motorways and TGVs to connect the farming communities of the Western seaboard.

....And the problem with that is??? Even places like Cork dont get enough of the money this state generates. Have you ever taken a bus in Cork? Its ridiculous how this country is so Dublin-centric.

Navan Junction

Drax wrote:

Its ridiculous how this country is so Dublin-centric.

I'm not sure it is.. The amount of improvements in Dublin and surrounding counties hasn't been as great as the fanfare suggests..

I think a key feature of the current government's activites has been the failure on projects right around the state..

The M50 upgrade is something which would benefit the whole state and that is only starting now, for example.

Dublin isn't a Mecca by any means. In fact the only project that could be described as a being in before it is needed that I can think of is the N(M)2 to Ashbourne.

Everything else is announced, reannounced a million times, studied to death and in many cases not delivered upon.

Take even the joke in Dublin re Dublin buses and empty bus lanes! Re capital spend in Dublin & region being greater than other parts of the country, well that isn't true from figures released a few months ago.. The GDA is actually behind the rest of the country.

Someone else may remember that particlur article.. It's on the board somewhere..

OTK

Navan Junction wrote:

Mr Ahern added that a lack of time and the pressure on people to be high achievers in everything they did meant they took less interest in what was happening in their neighbourhood, their town or the country as a whole.

He doesn't see a connection between encouraging city workers to live far from cities by promoting one-off housing and suburbanisation and then discovering that it takes people a long time to get to work. He doesn't think that spending billions on rural commuter motorways rather than urban public transport has created this situation.

Children suffer most in this pattern of development as they are entirely dependent on their car driving parents whenever they want to meet their friends or go to school.

Nice work, Bert!

Slice

I think everyone would be as active a citizen as he is if we had friends like his.

road_high

Navan Junction wrote:

Ruadhán MacCormaic, Irish Times, 09/10/2006

Pressures of modern life hinder people from playing a full role as citizens, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.


Mr Ahern added that a lack of time and the pressure on people to be high achievers in everything they did meant they took less interest in what was happening in their neighbourhood, their town or the country as a whole.

He was speaking on Saturday at the annual National Youth Conference, held this year under the theme of active citizenship. The conference was attended by youth work organisations and voluntary groups from around the country.

"There is nothing complicated about being an active citizen. It means taking an interest in what is happening in your neighbourhood, in your town or village and the country as a whole," Mr Ahern said.

"I do have a concern, however, that we are losing some of the community spirit which existed in the past."

It was his goal to encourage more people to participate in their locality, by joining community groups, voting in elections, volunteering or making an effort to welcome immigrants to Ireland, he added.

Mr Ahern pointed out that of the Republic's present population of over four million, 41 per cent are below the age of 25, compared to an EU average of 25 per cent.

Young people were therefore "an active and vital force" in the country's social, political and economic development.

The Taoiseach recently set up a Taskforce on Active Citizenship, a response to the decline in the numbers participating in and volunteering to organise a range of social and community activities.

He told participants at the conference that while young people had to be encouraged to assume a greater role in society, valuable work was already being done by many organisations in areas such as environmental improvement, care for the elderly and services for the disabled.

"The value of these projects is that they create a sense of collective community responsibility . . . and a sense of being members of a community which supports them and is supported by them," Mr Ahern said.

Minister for Youth Affairs Síle de Valera told the conference the Department of Education and Science will spend over €45 million on youth work activities this year.

© The Irish Times

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1009/1160167148677.html

Is this muppet for real? It's the property centred focus of this administration (which is he is supposedly LEADER of) that has led to people commutting 50-80 mile journeys to/from Dublin to work daily, so they can actually afford a place to live.. Then he wonders why people have no time to get involved in their communities and they stuck in daily gridlock misery on the M50, and places that like Abbeyleix, Waterford et al. that should have been bypassed years ago.Totally out of touch with the daily reality of people's lives, particularly in this provence. Transport 21 me arse:rolleyes: ....

Kashkai

Poor Bert has lost touch with reality - perhaps he should get out more with the common folk than spending his time with his builder buddies in the tent at the Galway races or hitting his friends for loans.

I spend 3 - 4 hours a day commuting to and from work. I'm up at 5.45am, (kids and wife still asleep) and then grind my way through traffic into Dublin. I get home between 7 & 8 in the evening when I see my kids for an hour or so before they go to bed. If I'm lucky, I can stay awake for the 9 o'clock news.

Now Bert, please tell me where I can get the extra time to be an "active citizen" seeing as I get to spend feck all time with my own family while I'm working all hours to pay the huge mortgage on my house in this wonderful celtic tiger land.

ps the so called alternative of Fine Gael/Labour/ (and god help us) the Greens, are also a bloody joke. Perhaps a revolution is called for in this country to give Ireland back to the people and out of the hands of ruling elites who preach democracy but never seem to carry out the wishes of the people who elected them.

road_high

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Poor Bert has lost touch with reality - perhaps he should get out more with the common folk than spending his time with his builder buddies in the tent at the Galway races or hitting his friends for loans.

I spend 3 - 4 hours a day commuting to and from work. I'm up at 5.45am, (kids and wife still asleep) and then grind my way through traffic into Dublin. I get home between 7 & 8 in the evening when I see my kids for an hour or so before they go to bed. If I'm lucky, I can stay awake for the 9 o'clock news.

Now Bert, please tell me where I can get the extra time to be an "active citizen" seeing as I get to spend feck all time with my own family while I'm working all hours to pay the huge mortgage on my house in this wonderful celtic tiger land.

ps the so called alternative of Fine Gael/Labour/ (and god help us) the Greens, are also a bloody joke. Perhaps a revolution is called for in this country to give Ireland back to the people and out of the hands of ruling elites who preach democracy but never seem to carry out the wishes of the people who elected them.

But why not given them a chance- FF have been in power for 10 years almost now- they are jaded in my opinion- I mean if they win again we'll see the same old dullards like O'Donohoe, Cowen, Hanafin et al. in for another 5 years on the front bench; this is my worst nightmare, so sick of their crap, telling everybody how great we have.
The previous FF/Lab govt was successful from 1994-1997. I say give them a chance and if it doesn't work we can always change at the next election.

loyatemu

Time for a military coup I think!

Anyone here in the FCA?

Drax

I think its time for Bertie to take an evening spin down the M50 without his bleedin' garda escort. The next time I see one behind me, I'm not moving out of the way.

road_high

I think it's a case of Bertie as a kind of mdern day Marie-Antoinette;
"If they don't have bread let them eat cake" type mentality!