TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

years, but three out of four people feel people are less willing to help each other or
moreover, people are less likely to say that fellow citizens can be trusted now than
they were twenty years ago. And one in three are concerned that when children
today in Ireland grow up, they will be worse off than people are now.
3. The planning and provision of high quality public services must be a priority for the
years ahead. The various agencies responsible must ensure that the transport
system works more efficiently; housing is more affordable and available where
people work; the education system matches the needs of a modern and affluent
society; and health services are accessible and efficient.
4. On the basis that a civilised society is essentially a just society, policies aimed at
the eradication of poverty and social exclusion must be matched by actual
performance as Ireland becomes notorious for displaying the widest gap in Europe
between the have’s and have not’s.
5. The movement towards a more open, democratic and honest society will continue,
and assist in fostering greater tolerance in an ever more diverse and multifarious
communities.
6. Inexorably, though excruciatingly, the peace process will progress towards a more
socially, economically and even politically integrated island of Ireland. The
workshops in Dundalk and Letterkenny during this study demonstrated the very rapid
movement towards collaborative thinking and planning for the future.
7. Worryingly, the long-held and much-prized qualities and values of Irish culture are
in serious danger of being eroded by an increasingly selfish, greedy, materialistic,
unequally, uncaring and even violent mindset. The demise of older traditional
values, customs and beliefs, and the absence of newer ones to replace them, leads
to a growing feeling that the social fabric of the state is torn and in urgent need of
repair.
8. Public service, be it in health, environment, enterprise, education, transport,
communications or justice, needs to be instilled with a new pioneering spirit on the
part of legislators and administrators alike. Public policy should be framed with
greater benefit of foresight so that government agencies think, consult, act and
plan about complexity, uncertainty and change in a more structured and imaginative
way.
9. The close, historic, and almost loving relationship with alcohol now poses a most
serious threat to personal health and communal welfare as consumption reaches
alarming rates with dire consequences. Statistics also show that the extent and
prevalence of drug misuse, particularly by the young, is high and rising, requiring an
innovative search for a set of solutions backed by adequate resources and the right
attitude. Sadly, the national figure for suicide, especially among young men, has
been on the increase for the past decade, and shows few signs of abating.
10. Maintaining the agricultural way of life as a cornerstone of Irish society by ensuring
that farm families enjoy increased living standards in line with the norm in the
growing economy. The key measure necessary would aim to: develop and support a
core of full-time farms; increase opportunities for sustainable off-farm income;
ensure an improved farmer age structure; move the produce of the agricultural
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