{"id":11558,"date":"2021-05-27T09:41:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T08:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=11558"},"modified":"2021-05-27T09:41:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T08:41:37","slug":"covid-19-a-new-irish-social-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/05\/27\/covid-19-a-new-irish-social-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: A New Irish Social Contract?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surveying the demise of the Celtic Tiger, Fintan O\u2019Toole devoted an opening essay \u2018\u2018Do you know what a republic is?\u2019 The Adventure and Misadventure of an Idea\u2019 in Up the Republic! Towards a New Ireland<\/em> (2012) to assessing the health of the Irish Republic. He considered its vitality based on the presence, or otherwise, of three indicators: Non-Domination<\/em><\/strong>; Mixed Government<\/em><\/strong> and tolerance of Obstreperous Citizens<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

These features of a healthy republic, he wrote, diverge from a narrow form of republicanism associated with Rousseau \u2018which argues for the notion of a single, sovereign popular will: \u2018the People\u2019 effectively taking the place of the king in a monarchy.\u2019 Up to that point in Ireland, O\u2019Toole argued, this latter, narrow version had predominated, which he associated \u2018in vulgar terms\u2019 with appeals being made to \u2018pull on the green jersey\u2019\u2019; and where \u2018an idea of accountability implicit in mixed government is ditched.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018For most of the history of the state\u2019, O\u2019Toole concluded that the state \u2018failed miserably in the basic task of ensuring citizens were free from subjection to the arbitrary will of others.\u2019[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, as Ireland slowly unwinds from an interminable lockdown that tendency of Irish governments to pull on the green jersey, avoid accountability, reject obstreperousness and a conspicuous failure to ensure that citizens are free from the subjection to the arbitrary will of others, is evident once again. This regression has arrived especially through what O\u2019Toole himself described<\/a><\/span> on April 28th<\/sup>, 2020 as the \u2018top-down, command-and-control approach\u2019 of the National Public Health Emergency Team <\/span>(NPHET<\/span><\/a>), which the elected government has deferred to throughout most of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

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The Irish government should take in broader insights than those now offered by NPHET to chart a humane course through the pandemic.https:\/\/t.co\/iJWoaaEnfJ<\/a>@broadsheet_ie<\/a> @edbrophy<\/a> @liamherrick @Patrickttierney<\/a> @EamonRyan<\/a> @LeoVaradkar<\/a> @cathmartingreen<\/a> @MichealMartinTD<\/a> @Aosdana<\/a><\/p>\n

— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) October 9, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n