Real sustainability requires long-term policies, not short-term gains

Ireland has been through many “boom-Bust” economic cycles.  Each “bust” has led to assurances that lessons have been learned and that changes will be made to ensure that the next recovery will be sustainable.  Election 2016 occurs at the cusp of such discussions and offers us an opportunity to vote for policies which can indeed break the “boom-bust” cycle and deliver a more stable future. Real sustainability will require a long term vision and a capacity to develop and implement policies which will have their impact in 10 or even 20 years’ time.

In order to end the “boom-bust” cycle issues such as sustainable development, protecting our natural resources, energy, climate change, balanced regional development and new indicators of progress should be at the cost of long-term policy making. In the run up to the election Social Justice Ireland has produced a short briefing on Sustainability outlining some key challenges and policy recommendations.  To read more on this issue please click here.