TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

nationalistic government has set about profoundly shaping change in a more realistic manner.
Policy initiatives, political processes and social values are all geared towards encouraging
individuals, organisations and communities to integrate environmental concerns into everything
they do. A key focus is on using simple and transferable technology, together with inherent
native ingenuity, to optimise the use of local and regional resources, without compromising
long-term conditions and reserves. The capacity of different localities and regions to achieve
this balance varies greatly, and leads to diverse, and sometimes perverse, outcomes. Global
and European environmental problems receive considerably less attention.
Energy systems similarly have been shifted away from a centralised scheme of generation and
distribution, and restructured around an array of local fossil and non-fossil fuels. Increasingly, a
wide range of small-scale renewable energy technologies are exploited, particularly wind, wave,
biomass and photovoltaics. Combined heat and power systems flourish. Much of this
transformation is paid-for through funds raised by substantial energy taxes, and the
consequently high energy process encourage further adoption of energy efficient measures and
an overall fall in energy demand.
Learning
The past ten years have witnessed a startling metamorphosis in Irish education. Up until 2020
the overriding emphasis had been upon advanced science, high-technology and international
business. Globalisation, and the unbecoming scramble for external funds, had seen a massive
influx of foreign students, with very mixed results. Gradually to begin with, but more rapidly
since about 2025, the accent has increasingly been placed on alternative technologies, local
enterprise and heritage craft skills. The Irish language is also in the ascendancy, as are
traditional cultural activities in the field of music, dance and literature.
There is open and fair access to education in Ireland, but poor economic growth and low levels
of public funding have precluded much investment in research. For years there has been a
brain-drain of the brightest and the best, but signs are just appearing of an inflow of scholars in
the arts, humanities and environmental sciences who are seeking a change of lifestyle and a
fresh challenge.
Valediction
Ireland is on the cusp between a failing, open, modern, industrialised and connected economy,
and a renewed, patriotic, localised and introspective nation-state seeking a modest yet
comfortable future.
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