Account for economic and political inertia in Ireland. - page 1
Keywords: economy government ireland
By exploiit on 19/06/2010
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 1 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
The reason for Ireland’s recent economic contraction is rooted in its chronic underperformance over the past 50 years. Unique to other countries in post-war Europe, Ireland in the 1950s maintained a protectionist economic program which, instead of strengthening the Irish economy as intended, actually stunted Irish trade and subsequently led to ten years of ‘misery’. Similarly, 1980 saw the government unable to act on budgetary problems they had been facing. With this ignored, the economic conditions endured were much as they had been 30 years previously. The problem in both cases was simple – in times of prosperity, the government neglected to look forward and plan for what may happen in the event of an economic bust – a ‘governance vacuum’, as Dan O’Brien describes it – and these significant slumps will simply reemerge if future governments continue to do this. As is the case currently, the overwhelming success of the Celtic Tiger was enjoyed for a considerable period, but the governments of Ahern/Cowen have failed to plan for the inevitable economic downfall, and so Ireland has been left in a recession deeper than elsewhere due largely to inaction on modernizing the management of public finances and the steady erosion of international competitiveness.
Inertia is not only an economic problem in Ireland; the government has proven lethargic in other areas, for example, the teaching of the Irish language, energy policy, planning issues and foreign policy. Perhaps most evident is Ireland’s inaction in the reform of the public sector. Although Ireland’s political structure was based on the Westminster model when it established itself in 1922 and both were much the same, the Irish and British structures today have very little in common. Britain has since introduced inter-departmental strategy units and fast-track recruitment streams in order to maximize the effectiveness of government and although this structure has its problems, Britain has undoubtedly taken steps toward bettering the administrative structure. In comparison, Ireland has lagged phenomenally behind. Government departments are ineffective and often lacking in human resources and this, like with the economy, is due to the unwillingness of the political class to propose or push reform and move away from the often outdated restrictions of Bunreacht na hÉireann.
Four specific aspects of the Constitution, it has been suggested, are largely responsible for the political inertia in question, one of which is the electoral system adopted in the Republic of Ireland. With several candidates from within
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