All of the above factors must be addressed if a genuine sense of civic values is to be re-introduced into our society and political system. Prosperity in the long term will also depend on it. The suggestion in a recent UN report that only the U.S. had a higher concentration of poverty than ourselves comes as cold comfort. In the late 1950s Sean Lemass stated that the historic task of that generation of political leaders was to secure the economic foundations for independence. Lemass and those that followed him largely have achieved that task.
Emigration is at an end and the economy has been both globalised and made relatively efficient.
When Lemass spoke the political foundations for independence had largely been achieved with the enactment of the 1937 constitution and the decision to remain neutral during the Second World War. In the late 1980s the economic foundations for independence were further secured as the political elite turned their backs on high public spending and borrowing. The real challenge to the current generation of political leaders is to secure the social foundations for independence. In terms of the broad canvass of Irish history the impact of the Good Friday agreement has probably been underestimated. In effect the agreement is a fine-tuning of contacts begun in 1980 by Mr Haughey with his summit meeting with Mrs Thatcher.