First of all the problems in the housing market have reached crisis point. It has reached a stage now where even a couple both with reasonably well paid jobs still cannot afford to buy a house. This problem can only be solved by a massive investment in affordable public housing that will prove to be a valuable long-term investment.
Anyone who has been in and around Dublin City as well as our other urban centres will surely realise that traffic congestion is a major problem and adds a huge degree of stress and frustration to people’s lives. Again, there is a solution to this problem and again it involves considerable investment. Public transport is the only solution to this problem with particular attention being paid to the increase in rail services and in my opinion an underground transport system would dramatically decrease traffic problems in the long term.
Ireland’s health care and education system are one of the finest in the world. However this may reflect more on the lack of quality services in this area globally rather than any particular merit in our own system. It is a disgrace in a country with huge budget surpluses that most of our young children are in classes with over thirty students, which means that it is almost impossible for them to receive the attention they need. More investment and improvements in school facilities can resolve this problem. I believe that it is also important that people like teachers, nurses and the police receive proper remuneration for the valuable work they do.
To conclude, these are just a few of the problems facing Irish society today and to some people my solutions may seem radical. However I do not believe them to be radical at all; to me they are common sense. If people believe that reasonably priced housing, adequate public transport and properly funded health and education systems are radical then perhaps we as a people have more problems than I would care to imagine.