A world-class university to attract foreign students, a major social housing programme, tapping into our diaspora, accelerating our legal system and reining in our national mood: these were just some the suggestions put forward by an expert panel on “Ten practical things to make the most of Ireland’s recovery” as this year’s Kilkenomics festival drew to a close last night.
Chaired by comedian Ardal O'Hanlon, who told a packed Set Theatre in Kilkenny that the assumption behind the discussion was that the economy was actually turning around, the session had an international cast of speakers, including market strategist and former investment bank boss Vikas Nath. Economist and Kilkenomics co-founder David McWilliams suggested embarking on a social housing project to resolve any housing crisis and improve rent regulation to change Ireland's home-ownership mindset.
“What about using the ghost estates?” he was asked. He said we would have to “raze them” as they were built in the wrong places and would eventually become hubs of anti-social behaviour.
US academic and former banking regulator Bill Black urged Ireland to "take advantage of the diaspora" but also said we should move beyond the current party political system as "your parties suck".
The four-day festival, which marries economics and comedy, brings together international practitioners of both. It is also not immune to whatever recovery is out there, as attendances at its debates were up by about 40 per cent this year.
It’s also possibly the only economic forum where suits and ties are frowned upon and last night’s contributors largely went along with the unofficial uniform of jeans, open-necked shirts and even T-shirts.
Finance lecturer and former adviser to Michael McDowell, Cormac Lucey, was practically over-dressed in a blazer but won support for his idea to speed up the courts. "One problem we have in our economy that has escaped nearly any public attention is a legal system which is constipated," he said.
Supreme Court judgments could seem "like an essay-writing competition," he continued, before suggesting that lawyers for each side put forward their cases in the form of written submissions and then the justices take segments of each and issue their judgements in the form of three-page summaries. "Stop this farting around trying to be perfect."
As is the nature of these events, there was a lot of talk of boom-and-bust. Former Argentinian economy minister Martin Lousteau had advice to try and prevent such cycles; don't exaggerate either the positive or negative and try not to allow the economy to overshoot. In short: "You need to stablise your emotions."
