The past, we are told, is a foreign country.

Fifty years ago so much was different. The Everly Brothers were top of the charts, Spurs were league champions and a new broadcasting service called Teilifis Eireann was just turning on.

On the other hand, Tipperary held the Liam McCarthy cup and another Irish American was in the Oval Office……!

Tragically however, years of poor public policy left 1960s Ireland isolated, impoverished and ill-prepared for the challenges of a rapidly changing international marketplace.

Maybe the past isn’t such a foreign country after all. Read the full story

It is long past time when Ireland should set out for itself a coherent Plan for Economic Recovery to confront this crisis. Just as 50 years ago Whitaker and Lemass cast aside failed policies, and challenged a narrow economic orthodoxy with a new Programme for Economic Expansion, so we must do so again today. Read the full story

SPEECH GIVEN BY DEPUTY RICHARD BRUTON TD
At IICM Awards

A high performance public service is central to all our ambitions for this country. Its reputation has been damaged in recent years. High-profile white elephants, promises unfulfilled, ambitious strategies that ended in failure, chaos in the public finances, poor use of technology, disastrous weakness of regulation – all have sapped public confidence and demoralised talented people who have committed their lives to the public service. Read the full story