TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

7. Demands for greater scrutiny, transparency and accountability across all sectors of
society will endure. At the same time, advances in information technology raise
cultural questions about security, surveillance, control, access, privacy, crime,
taxation, propaganda and social colonisation.
8. Changing communal identities and networks, whether religious, political, interest or
ethnic, will pose a range of challenges for governance, using opportunities afforded
by globalisation and the opening of civil society. Concurrently, increasing
deferment from politics and institutions will persist, though the influence of special
interest groups will grow.
9. We are witnessing the start of a mobility explosion which exposes people to new
places, relationships and ideas. It both sparks and diffuses creativity and
innovation, with little respect for traditional social, economic or national barriers.
New mobile populations will not only include the more affluent global elites, but
also the rural poor, less wealthy migrants, and those displaced by environmental,
political and economic pressures.
It is possible to discern a movement in society towards a rediscovery of certain fundamental
values. A shift away from materialism towards more enduring philosophical and spiritual values.
Ethical business, more cynically, is now good business.
Prospects for Ireland
The Ireland of today is culturally very different from the Ireland of yesterday, and likely to be
different again in the world of tomorrow. Society has been transformed over the past fifteen
years or so. They country is now one of the wealthiest in the world and the standard of living of
its inhabitants has improved significantly. Business has flourished and Irish entrepreneurs are at
the cutting edge of global enterprise. Ireland had become a modern and forward looking
nation, confident to compete on the world stage across all aspects of business and society.
Despite the recent prosperity, however, many challenges remain. Most especially, perhaps, all
agencies and organisations in society must grasp the challenge of addressing an important range
of quality of life issues. All members of society, moreover, must be provided with the
opportunity to share fully in the benefits of Ireland’s deserved success and good fortune. Some
twenty of the most significant societal issues and trends identified for Ireland are listed below.
1. For many people today, income prosperity has not been translated into an improved
quality of life. Chronic congestion, inadequate housing provision and poor quality
of public services often mean that although people have more material wealth than
a decade ago, their daily routines are more difficult. Quality of life issues, it is
agreed, make Ireland for a less attractive place in which to live and work.
2. Nevertheless, in broad terms, more people see themselves as being generally very
happy now than they did in the 1980’s, and the popular view is that quality of life
has improved since then. Spending time with family is seen as the primary driver of
quality of life, with emphasis also placed on having enough money to do the things
desired. Membership of voluntary organisations has increased over the past twenty
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