There is a new and dangerous degree of disenchantment with politics in the Republic and the North, Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Robin Eames said today.
Addressing the church's General Synod in Dublin, the archbishop said there needed to be recognition that "publicity or political pronouncements which are soon
forgotten are not enough".
With three days to go to the General Election, he said there were many in Ireland who felt marginalised from government through "a process of what is now termed spin-doctoring.
"There is a new and dangerous degree of disenchantment with the political process just as there is a questioning of many aspects of institutional life," he said.
Society was changing and new ways of analysing values were emerging, he said.
"But economic and material progress has not always taken account of the value of the individual. The speed of change has at times left us breathless . . . we must wake up and recognise that publicity or political pronouncements which are soon forgotten are not enough".
Additional reporting PA
