I found John Lonergan’s autobiography (The Governor, Penguin Books, 2010) interesting because he had a very significant story to tell, and inspiring because of his humanity, strength of character, forbearance and patience. The man who completed over forty-two years in the Irish Prison Service seems to have had a remarkable ability to compartmentalize his work and not let the stress of it damage his self-worth, inner tranquillity or enjoyment of life, including his work life. He recognises and accepts that life is not ideal, that there are things one can achieve, things one can strive for and things one might go along with because not to do so could be to opt out of a possibility to do the most good that could be done in the circumstances. Reading the book made me feel glad, as an Irish citizen, that such a man was there doing his best for people, for so long, at Mountjoy jail and elsewhere in the prison service.
I am very disappointed at recent developments in relation to the proposed new Irish National Paediatric Hospital, which had the endorsement of so many, and was to be constructed at the site of the Mater Hospital. The process of replacing existing inadequate facilities has been far too protracted, but to have had a fully designed, developed and agreed plan rejected by An Board Pleanála, seemingly without appropriate forewarning, when so much time and money had been invested in the project, is deplorable. Ireland is a democratic country and there are planning processes in place. However, this present situation begs that the processes of democracy, good governance and planning step up to meet the challenge of preventing further unjustifiable delay and waste.
Evolution and change are occurring as rapidly today in medicine as they are in information technology—in fact, many of the developments in medicine depend on information technology. I don’t see anybody using a computer that is fifty years old! In my humble opinion, in Ireland, there is too great a tendency to retain the edifices of society beyond their duration of suitability and hospitals are a particular case in point. In technological terms, I do not see how one could assume that a hospital built today will still be suitable for purpose in, let’s say, fifty years, without major upgrades. After fifty years or so it may well make perfect sense to demolish the hospital and build a new one at the same location or elsewhere. I hope the new paediatric hospital, whenever it is eventually completed and whenever it has eventually fulfilled its useful purpose, will not then be seen as yet another ‘Wonder of the World’ that has to be preserved as a historical record for posterity. Nature recycles the very crust of the Earth (on various time scales, some very long). The human body, and perhaps all life forms, have ageing and death built-in, in such a way that life, as distinct from one individual’s life, is continually renewed. For me, this is part of the wonder of nature, life and creation. Our bones return to dust and it is natural that our buildings should too and be replaced by new buildings to satisfy current requirements.
I have no qualifications whatsoever in banking, other than my own life experiences. Naively I assumed ‘banking’ looked after itself, or rather that there was proper and sufficient oversight of banking at a national and European level. In my mind somewhere there was even such a thing as a ‘World Bank,’ about which I knew very little—I considered it a positive thing in that it brought wealthy economies together to help developing countries. Modern major banks (the big names, national and international) were pillars of respectability, responsibility and hard-learned conservatism—at least in respect to their capital base and financial security. I had never set myself the specific objective of becoming wealthy. For example, I chose my career direction in keeping with my interests and what I perceived as my strengths, rather than to maximize my earnings or become a millionaire or billionaire. The distinction between the two never seemed very important to me, although in recent times in Ireland, especially before 2007, euro-millionaires (on paper) were common and included a lot of ordinary hard-working people who had not come from privileged backgrounds. These ‘millionaires’ included many who owned or had substantially paid-off their mortgages on, for example, three-bedroom houses in or around Dublin.
I was not insensitive to, or un-attracted by, the enticement of ‘earning’ more money and, by nature and experience, was inclined to live within my means, preferring to save for something or do without it rather than seeking comfort or gratification on the basis of borrowing. I was happy to leave ‘banking’ to the experts! I was sensible in managing my affairs and knew I was fortunate in having married someone with a similar outlook.
Things have changed, to bring me to writing this blog about re-designing banks! It feels as though the time has come for banking ignoramuses like me to speak out. We might as well, for if we do not we can only have ourselves to blame when experts, specialists and leaders make a mess of things.
Having listened to the news last Tuesday, 8th November, 2011, I was moved to tweet ‘Ireland should withdraw Mr. Cardiff from Court of Auditors in light of seriousness of debt overstatement on his watch.’ I felt shocked that the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, the Táiniste, Eamon Gilmore, and the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, were all staunchly opposed to withdrawing the nomination of Mr. Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors. These are three very experienced and smart politicians, whom I value and respect, but I felt they were letting Ireland and the European Community down in relation to this issue.
Democracy is a delicate and very precious thing. It can never be taken for granted. No citizen, no more than any leader, is the fount of all wisdom, but the concept of democracy attempts to harness the innate wisdom of humankind and continually repair the failings and imperfections of communities and of society as a whole. I am very proud of my country, Ireland, and I am very proud that it is a functioning democracy.
