Has Ireland lost its soul, Archbishop Séan Brady asked this week. Rosita Boland poses the question among a sample of Irish society
Can a country have a soul? If so, how would you define the soul of Ireland? And are we in danger of losing it? These are big and even uncomfortable questions, and ones which are not easily answered. There is not even a right or wrong answer: but what is surely and vitally important is to ask these difficult questions, to keep them current, to debate them, and to meditate - another uncomfortable but crucial word - on them.
We are a country which still values conversation and debate, despite our unseemly and apparently relentless canter towards a me-culture. In a week when Dan McLaughlin, chief economist at Bank of Ireland Global Markets stated confidently that "the Tiger is back", the Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, talked about a "crisis of meaning" in Ireland in a homily at Duiske Abbey in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny. Brady was not referring specifically to religion or spirituality; he was talking about the issue in a wider context of society and culture.
"Has Ireland lost its soul? Have we thrown out the best of the old for the worst of the new?" he asked. "The spiritual life of a nation, its systems of values, traditions and beliefs, are just as essential to its success and cohesion as the pursuit of wealth or of individual freedom."
So what do we think constitutes the soul of Ireland?
The Banker
Pat Farrell
Chief executive of the Irish Bankers' Federation
When I think of the soul of Ireland, I think of value systems and culture. I'm not talking about high culture - the arts - but the way people live their lives. Ireland is slightly on autopilot at the moment. We used to take our values from religious institutions and the government. We're now in a difficult and slightly dangerous transition, because we haven't found value systems to fully replace those we've thrown out. The soul of the country is the people. It does come back to us as individuals to establish our own values. But even in busy contemporary Ireland, there are flashes of things we can do when we get together - like the Special Olympics. That really brought out the best in us across the whole community. I'd be worried that we might lose that.
Some of our values are stated rather than real. For instance, we would have a name for being hospitable, but on the other hand we have an ambivalence towards immigrants, and that is not consistent with our stated value. We don't spend half enough time talking about things like this. We debate competitiveness and the need to succeed, constantly, instead of having a good healthy debate about what is really important: what are our values, and what is our belief system.
The Poet
Mary O'Malley
Poet, Galway
For me, the soul of Ireland is to do with what we are, and what we consider ourselves to be in an essential way - not in a marketplace way. What Archbishop Brady is doing is starting a dialogue that we've been diverted from - and deliberately diverted from - in the last 15 years. We have been selling our souls. We've taken certain parts of ourselves - music and language and talk - and marketed them so they become less valuable. Then we're surprised by the fact they're cheapened. We've turned into a parody of ourselves.
We've marketed what used to be the best of ourselves - craic and fun - and turned it into drunkenness. A lot of people don't want to go to Galway any more for that reason. For me, it's summed up by Mick Taylor's old bar in Dominick Street. It used to have a room over the bar you could have for free, for workshops and readings. The bar was sold - and now it's a "gentleman's club", whatever that is.
We've lost the finer calibrations of social things - the meeting and greeting. We've become quite crude in our way of looking at things, and we are losing our manners. We tell everyone we have the highest standards of education and yet the standard of debate is lower than I've ever known it - everything is discussed at a tabloid level. We're cutting ourselves off from the source of our imagination - and imagination is close to humanity and that's the closest to what we call the soul.
The Businesswoman
Gillian Bowler
Founder of Budget Travel and chairwoman of Irish Life and Permanent
Ireland was a country that soaked up news and debate and talk. We had a hunger for it. That's incredibly healthy, provided we don't get judgmental and turn in on ourselves. I think we beat ourselves up a lot - perhaps that comes from being a guilt-ridden society - but, fundamentally, people are decent. What we've lost is that society has become very black and white, very grabby.
Each generation aims to try and give something better to its children. When you are more affluent, that's harder to do because, monetarily, the things your own parents couldn't give you are now taken for granted. So I do believe in being a citizen where you look out for others. What I value is the chat, the nature of debate and self-examination, what we should and shouldn't be, the debate in pubs and restaurants. And the way we are with each other. I heard a story last week about a party in Kerry where 15- and 16-year olds were dancing with 70-year-olds. There is a happiness about that, a rightness I hope we don't lose.
The Model Agent
Mags Humphries
Manager of Assets Models, Dublin
For me, the soul of Ireland is our behaviour patterns. I think the problem is we've moved into the 21st century and our values have changed and there's nothing we can do about it. The country had to move forward. Everyone now wants the sports car, the Gucci handbag, the Dolce & Gabbana jeans, but when you've had them, you don't care about them any more. I don't think there's anything wrong with working hard and wanting nice things. Our lives have become very busy, but that's because it's a question of survival. Things are so expensive, you have to work 24/7. But what I don't think has changed are the people. If someone dies, for instance, people turn out to help. I don't think that section of Ireland has changed much. What I most want to see us keeping, and what I value most, is our friendliness, especially in the country - I don't mean Dublin.
The Charity Worker
Seán Farrell
Co-ordinator of education and campaigns, Trócaire, Maynooth
The soul of Ireland is partly related to compassion, and care for the elderly. I've always felt in Ireland a very strong sense of being basically welcoming, and caring for others, in a way that is intrinsic. But there has been a massive change. You can see the changes that Archbishop Brady is alluding to. There is a much greater focus on money and salary. That's why things like the GAA are important - watching players who aren't paid, and on whom you can't put a monetary value. Society never stays static and there is always going to be movement. The challenge for us now is to find new and creative ways of reaching out to people.
The Farmer
Mike Magan
Dairy farmer, Longford
People will always be the soul of Ireland. To me, the secular soul of Ireland is humour, our sense of fun - something you feel rather than something you can define. Society is constantly changing and evolving, so values keep changing too. We probably have lost some of the things that made us unique - among them, this view that we're welcoming and open. We've lost that. But we've retained a sense of fun and enjoyment.
In the past, lots of people held values out of fear rather than anything else. People are allowed to be more liberal now but, in terms of controls, we have loads more restrictions on us now. Things like the smoking ban. We have controls imposed on us rigidly. I'd be very concerned about the effect of so many restrictions on us as people. If we want to retain the soul of Ireland, it's very important to keep people in Ireland, down to the people who live in back lanes down the country, and allow them to live there. Some of the building restrictions, for instance, don't make sense.
In rural Ireland, the much-maligned GAA gives us a sense of community. What holds us together now is community and the parish - not the parish church.
The Tourism Manager
Brian Dowling
Managing director of CIÉ Tours International and chair of Irish Tourist Industry Confederation
The soul, or essence, of Ireland is so many things, but mostly it is ourselves. People's personalities, and their desire to engage, is a big part of it. We essentially regard ourselves as gregarious. You could probably say, though, that we are not as generous as we used to be. That's to do with time. And stresses. It does take its toll. People are more likely to walk past something now than to stop and take an interest in it - we rush along now, instead of dandering and looking at things. The pace of life has changed in cities. That has definitely had an effect on our manners.
The Union Leader
Mike Jennings
Midlands and South-East SIPTU regional secretary, Kilkenny
The soul of Ireland means different things to different people. We used to think the Catholic Church was the guardian of the soul of Ireland. That was a narrow concept, based on rules and authoritarianism. I think our soul has to do with a spirit of generosity and a sense of passion - being angry at injustice and a willingness to understand. That we know there is more to humanity than just surviving from day to day.
Our soul is greatly enhanced, and it's going through a renaissance. People are prepared to make a stand for their heritage now. I remember the destruction of Georgian Dublin and councillors saying that only belted earls were interested in Georgian Dublin. The Georgian Society, who were protesting, were seen as an elite group. Ordinary people are much more likely to be involved now. It's more democratic - look at the way people protested for Mullaghmore and Carrickmines.
Banks and certain business people do send out the message "look after yourself, Jack". But Ireland is bigger than that. I do have some concern at the decline in volunteerism for unpaid positions - that's across the board. It's like "why should I give my time for free?" People are afraid of being suckers after seeing others milking the system.
I don't think the soul of Ireland today is in danger. We can't have a rose-tinted assessment of the past. There was a lot of pain and injustice that never got talked about. If that contributed to our ideology in the past, we're well rid of it.
