Genius of wealth not respected

So, it's all over bar the counting. Is there anything more to be said before we get back to business? There are, I believe, at least two good reasons why some last reflections about the Presidency, economics and business are appropriate, especially this Friday, in the political stillness before counting begins.First, we have lived through an extraordinary Presidency, which we are told, has made Irish people re-imagine and re-invent Ireland. Running through the many, deserved acolades given to Mrs Mary Robinson at the time of her departure, was a sense of euphoria that Ireland had just passed through some sort of golden age, a euphoria tinged with regret at its passing. A "Morning Ireland" elegy was composed by people who would publicly retch at Ronald Regan's 1984 "Morning in America" advertising campaign.Some of the intellectualising of the Robinson Presidency was utterly overblown. Never mind; the last Presidency was clearly successful in ways and to degrees never before achieved.

Coincident with that success has been the unprecedented boom in the economy, a golden age, but not without tarnishes. Business has never been so good, once Ireland was re-imagined. Is there a connection?Perhaps a key ingredient in our economic success has been a new self-confidence which people detect in the Ireland of today.

Could there be a connectoin between a society's level of self-esteem and the performance of its economy (which, after all, is the performance of its businesses)? Perhaps.Hard-nosed economists hate this sort of argument, especially when it is played out in much greater theatres. They don't like the different economic performances of say, the US and Japan, Italy and Germany, to be explained by mushy "cultural" factors.Data-driven people like to analyse the structure of the economy, the economic incentives and disincentives in play, policies on money, free trade, competition and free markets.To say that Germany has been a successful economy because the Germans are Germans (like, we all know they work methodically) is a useless statement for those who like data, because it can't be tested, proven or disproven.This is why cultural critics and economists seem to find each other's arguments at times insufferable. From the hardened viewpoint, it's easy to argue that the Robinson presidency was not a factor contributing to the economic boom, but may rather have benefited from optimism about prosperity. Our economic success has had deep and complex factors, predating 1990. The Presidency has never had any influence over economic policy. It has been largely irrelevant to the ups and downs of Irish business.Despite all that, the projection by the President at home and abroad of a national mood, a new self-confidence, if you will, certainly cannot hurt business. It probably has, and hopefully will, help business. The language used in the latest campaign (before the dirty tricks) suggested that the presidency was seen as a sort of personified "Brand Ireland", the nation's living logo. That can be glib, but in the right context, it can also be beneficial. Though hard to prove, the cultural argument this time has some force.But there is a second, and more important, reason why the presidency belongs on the business pages. In the course of the campaign, Derek Nally said that the President was the head of civic society, in contrast to political society. The notion gained some currency and approval. The President is, of course, Head of State, and it's no use pretending anything else. Still, the notion of a civic society has some use, as a contrast to the institutions under political control.Business is part of civic society. It is as valid a part of the life of this country as the arts, charitable organisations, self-help and advocacy groups. Most Irish people's work is carried on in the private sector. The pursuit of profit is seen as a sort of necessary evil along the way towards the provision of jobs. The contexts in which business successes are celebrated are vacuum sealed from the socio-political contexts where the state of our nation is judged.It may be said that profit is sufficient reward for buisness; that neither an entrepreneur nor a chief executive needs to be valorised, as a community group would be, by Presidental attention. But a state which values business success should see that reflected through the actions of the Head of State. A presidency that reaches out to the marginalised unemployed must surely acknowledge the businesses that provide the very jobs which deliver inclusiveness.I hope that the next President, whoever she may be, will find the space to affirm the genius of the Irish people in culture, the arts, outreach and advocacy - and also when they're creating wealth.