Many Irish academics have "lost their nerve" and have capitulated quietly to "an outrageously distorted version of freedom and market", Labour Party president Michael D Higgins has claimed.
A "colonisation of media in all its forms" is reflected in a failure by Irish intellectuals to claim space to discuss "fundamental moral and political issues", Mr Higgins said in Galway last night. Speaking at the publication of a book by NUI Galway lecturer Dr Allyn Fives on State welfare systems, Mr Higgins said that intellectuals gave the impression that they were no longer "free nor willing" to demand such space for debate.
"Insofar as the society in which we live is described as a democracy - and in the case of us Irish, a Republic - one can only conclude that we are blindly drifting to a condition of "unfreedom" - as Charles Taylor would put it - or, more consciously, as I believe, living a life of bad faith," Mr Higgins said. "We claim to subscribe to a principle of equality that we contradict in policy and practice."
The publication of Dr Fives's book was all the more important in this context, as it occurred at a time when "the space for the discussion of the connection between morality, politics, economics and society has contracted", he said.
"While there are a number of publications now appearing that address the consequences of globalisation . . . there is a need for a more rigorous approach to such fundamental questions," Mr Higgins said.
Dr Fives's analysis of contemporary political philosophies of welfare and the moral arguments for welfare entitlements was described by Mr Higgins as "a vital contribution to an area we desperately need to debate".
Political and Philosophical Debates in Welfareby Allyn Fives is published by Palgrave Macmillan.