Irish society needs to explore what will fill the vacuum left behind by our overemphasis on commercial values, Fr Harry Bohan, the founder of the Céifin Centre in Co Clare told a conference in Ennis yesterday.
He said people had become disconnected from institutions such as church and State, which had failed to provide moral leadership and, in various ways, left people with a sense of betrayal.
However, he said it was within our grasp to ensure new values would contain a spiritual and compassionate element that would serve society well into the future. "In the 21st century much of our focus was about the outside world. The next century will be about spiritualism and the inner world," he said.
"We are beginning a journey which will help us restore the balance and hopefully this conference will lead us along the way."
The conference, Filling the Vacuum, is the eighth annual meeting of its type organised by the Céifin Centre aimed at exploring ways of promoting "values-led" action in society.
President Mary McAleese, as well as warning against Irish society ending up in a "cul de sac of complacent consumerism", paid tribute to the levels of volunteerism in Irish society.
"They are the people who gave us the World Summer Special Olympic Games, who invented a million ways to part people from their money last December when between them they raised almost €75 million for victims of the tsunami at the other end of the earth," she said.
"This very day they will do a million good things that will bring joy and comfort, hope and opportunity, courtesy and kindness into the lives of others and they will listen with sinking hearts as their massive contribution, their sacrifice and their considerable faith in humanity is overlooked yet again in discussions about the future direction of our country. They are our hope and our reassurance."
She added: "Their value system, their work and their leadership keep us faithful to the agenda we set ourselves as a nation and which we are challenged to complete. They also know something that those who have never volunteered don't yet know - that it really is in giving that we receive - that amidst the many frustrations there is fun, friendship and fulfilment that no shop can sell, no gadget can generate."
While anti-social behaviour among teenagers was often in the news, the President said she had seen thousands of "fantastic young people" active in their communities through the President's Awards, Foróige and other initiatives.
She said such community involvement helped build strong communities and would help complete the journey to a "true social order" where no life would be wasted. Ultimately, she said she hoped debating these issues would help us to "carry our shopping bags in one hand and our consciences in the other" as we learn how to fill the vacuum with vision and virtue.
Speaking on the theme of how globalisation will affect our lives, Forfás chairman Eoin O'Driscoll said lifelong learning was certain to become a part of the way we all work. If Ireland was to continue to compete in the global marketplace, he said workers would need to be agile and be willing to contribute and innovate on their own or as part of larger companies.
There was also a responsibility on Government to invest enough in education, particularly at third level, to ensure the country could continue to produce graduates which would compete with the best in the world.
Mary Surlis, the founder of a project based at NUI Galway which aims to foster friendship and understanding between teenagers and older people, said the demise of the extended family had contributed to a growing disconnection between young and old people.
She said the gap could be bridged through collaborative learning initiatives such as the Living Scenes project, in which teenagers and older people participate together in art, drama and literature projects.
This initiative, run from NUI Galway and which has been established in nine secondary schools, is due to be extended to more schools in the future.
"It's from older people that ultimately we value who we are and where we have come from." She said it had an enduring impact and changed the relationship between young and old people in the areas where it had been established.