"Ireland Inc."

In recent years it has become increasingly popular to use the phrase "Ireland Inc." when describing the fortunes of our little island nation. At all levels of public debate you can hear people giving their two cents on what is good or bad for "Ireland Inc.": from Questions and Answers to the kitchen table. However, I have felt for some time that this is one of the most insidiously damaging phrases ever to be peddled around the Irish media.

The metaphor of "Ireland Inc." is built on the understanding that Ireland, like a company, must be run according to strict business principles if it is to succeed in an increasingly competitive global market. At first glance this seems like a pretty reasonable suggestion, but it fundamentally misunderstands the nature of both Ireland and the institution of a company. Companies are designed to take risks in business and maximise shareholder return. That is all they are designed to do; they do not have any other meaning or function. It is a mechanism which developed over the course of the nineteenth century in order to permit people to take risks in business without losing their shirt. It has been a remarkably successful mechanism and its prevalence across the globe is testament to that.

But think for a moment about what the goals and practices of a company are. Companies are driven by the need for profit. In order to achieve that, companies seek efficiencies and greater productivity in order to get the edge on their competition. As a way of using resources to the best possible extent, this seems fair enough. Increased efficiency and productivity sound like very good things. However, bear in mind, that this efficiency doesn't just apply to things that come out of the ground or manufacturing techniques. It applies to humans too. If someone is not good at their job they get fired. Within the context of business that's acceptable; necessary even. However, translate the metaphor to the country as a whole for a moment. If Ireland really was a company, who would we sack? The old? Definitely. The Sick? Of Course. Children under fourteen? Don't need them. None of these people make a meaningful contribution to the economic well-being of our company; they are a drain on resources and so we should dump them.

Suddenly the metaphor doesn't seem like such a magnificent explanation of what we expect the Irish Government to do. Public services are not private businesses, nor should they be. There are reasons why we provide them centrally for everyone. On an economic security level, ensuring that everyone has a certain basic standard of living makes the whole country more stable. But there is more to it than that. We provide public services because it's the right thing to do and because Ireland is not a company; it's a society. A society of 4 million people can be hard to comprehend, so I understand why people need metaphors, but if a metaphor is needed, then far better to look at Ireland as a family.

Much like a company, a family has limited resources and it wants to make the most of them. However, unlike a company, the membership of a family cannot be changed in order to improve efficiency. If your brother is a bit slow or your granny has angina, you're stuck with it and you have to find a way to deal with it. Also, unlike a company, a family (hopefully) does not spend its entire time obsessing about the competition. A family is a microcosm of the society as a whole. There is a very good reason why it is the family and not the limited liability company which is described as the 'natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society' in Article 41 of the Constitution.

In some instances, our public services need to be made more efficient. In some cases, the people working in them could work a little harder and some others could do with being paid a little less. I understand why people talk about "Ireland Inc." when it comes to this issue and the issue of shoddy management of the economy. However, describing it as "Ireland Inc." fragments the issue, because it implies that the only motive in running a society is the creation of wealth. This is nonsense. The society as a whole requires efficient public services and it requires good economic management, but that is not all that it requires. It requires an understanding of the myriad needs and goals of the people who live in it. It requires a genuine commitment to ensuring the welfare of all within the society. These are the fundamental purposes of a government and efficiency is only a means to those ends.

This might seem like a platitude, but it is important. We have at present a government which is totally and utterly lacking in vision for the country. This is a government that thinks public finances and the economy are the same thing and yet also can't tell the difference between an economy and a society. Describing Ireland as a family and not a company is the sort of shift in thinking that could inspire real vision about how to build our country for the future.

Something like 'Teaghlach na hÉireann" would be a vastly superior replacement for "Ireland Inc." (although it is unfortunate that monikers of this type have been hijacked by those bloodthirsty lunatics who insist on murdering our protestant brothers and sisters to the North). A new metaphor would help to establish that we are all in this together, just like a family: rich and poor, public sector and private sector, Fianna Fáil voter and Labour Youth. We are all in this together and the sooner we realise that, the sooner we can start to heal our nation and grow as a society.

One final thought on why "Ireland Inc." should be dispensed with: it is factually inaccurate as a matter of Irish company law. Companies use one of two suffixes after the their names, neither of these is "Inc.". Companies either use "PLC" or "Ltd", depending on how they're organised. "Ireland Limited" sounds a little less shiny and efficient, however apt a description it might be of our current situation.