Volunteerism, community development and citizen participation have been moving centre stage in recent months. The Taoiseach has emphasised the importance of building social capital to Fianna Fáil meetings and he is actively promoting the ideas of Harvard professor Robert Putnam on the need for greater community involvement in society. President McAleese took up the theme recently and warned against Irish society ending up in a cul-de-sac of complacent consumerism. And last Friday Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern added an overseas dimension to the mix.
These are welcome developments. Government cannot ordain that people will be good citizens and do good deeds, but it can help to foster a climate in which such conduct is valued and admired. There can be no doubt at all that a society in which people look out for each other, in which individuals conduct themselves with consideration for the feelings and needs of others and in which people work occasionally to the material benefit of others and not just themselves are better places in which to live. We know this because we were more this way inclined in the past and we know also that the diminution of this particular aspect of the way we were is something we regret.
Our increasing wealth has been marked by a fall-off in social involvement. People have become "time poor" and less willing to make commitments to voluntary organisations. We are caring but at arm's length: great generosity has been displayed through individual donations to help the survivors of natural disasters around the world, notably after the Asian tsunami earlier this year. And Irish aid organisations have been at the forefront of such humanitarian efforts. The Government has acknowledged the dedicated professionalism of this "world class corps of volunteers". And now, as outlined by Dermot Ahern, it intends to augment their efforts and bring the volunteer tradition into the mainstream. In doing so, it will encourage partnerships between Irish companies and State agencies and their counterparts in the developing world. It will harness the skills of workers in industry, education and the health services; publicise volunteer opportunities abroad and establish a Volunteer Corps Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs. There is a deep fund of goodwill in our society waiting to be tapped. Young people - and their elders - should be encouraged to provide skills which are not otherwise available to struggling overseas communities, thereby enriching giver and receiver. But the days of well-meaning amateurism are past: only high-quality assistance should be offered.
At a different level, the Government has also committed itself to the establishment of an emergency rapid response corps, led by the Defence Forces. Irish foreign aid will rise to €675 million next year and twice that by 2012 if, as promised, we meet our commitment to the United Nations. These measures, working in parallel, show that the State and the citizen can make a difference.