A few thoughts:

I think in any country – indeed, in any organized human activity – the only thing that keeps people in charge 'honest' is the knowledge that they will be held to account. People in positions of power or authority inevitably become complacent and blinkered at best or corrupt and dishonest at worst if there is no effective mechanism by which they can be held responsible for their actions. The Catholic Church is a prime example.

One of the problems in both Ireland and Britain is that no-one believes that those responsible for the corruption and perversion of what are supposed to be 'Democratic' systems will be held to account. So cynicism and disillusionment sets in. In some cases, people start to blame themselves. Later on, they look for someone else to blame. Sometimes it's the right people (the ruling class) – more often, it's the wrong people (immigrants, foreigners, anyone who's different). 'Revolutionary' solutions don't convince anyone anymore since so many 'Revolutionary' leaders around the world can be seen to have become just as corrupt and dishonest as the people they have deposed – if they aren't co-opted into the 'System' so that they end up having a vested interest in it.

This has been particularly sad in Ireland since so much sacrifice and suffering was endured (almost within living memory) to establish a self-governing state (of sorts). So what's left, and what is to be done?

At the risk of generalizing, there is a great genius for organizing among Irish people. As soon as Irish people arrive in a foreign country almost the first thing they do is establish organizations. These could be County Associations, GAA teams, chapters of the AOH, Gaelic League branches, Irish Social Clubs or branches of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. In America, there was also the phenomenon of Irish organization and eventual predominance in bodies like City Police and Fire Departments and the Democratic Party (at city level, at least). So we're good at organizing ourselves and in some cases getting ourselves into positions of power. So what to we do with that power once we get there?

Not very much, it seems. Instead, what seems to happen is we close ranks, circle the wagons and segregate ourselves from the wider communities we live amongst and concentrate on maintaining our own social and communal life without dealing with the outside world any more than we have to. Those structures that we establish quickly become dominated by a very small number of men and women who tend to dominate them in some cases for life.

As a result, the organization and their position within it becomes more important than the purpose for which the organization was (ostensibly) established in the first place. This is, admittedly, a very sketchy and perhaps simplistic view of expatriate Irish communities but I would be surprised if at least some people involved in the sort of organization I'm describing didn't recognize some of what I've outlined above.

I think there's some evidence of that tendency within Ireland itself. Since 1948, and particularly since joining the EU, Ireland has become exposed to the wider world economy in a way that it was perhaps not before. In the 20s and 30s, the Irish State espoused very much a 'go-it-alone' approach to the economy. Foreign trade and investment, while not unwelcome, were not pursued with anything like the vigour of later years. Public services and utilities were run with a high degree of state involvement on what I would describe as a 'Social-Corporatist' model with a high degree of Trade Union involvement.

By the early 1960s, the continuing stagnation of the economy led to the Lemass government trying to attract greater foreign investment from outside (particularly, at the time, from the UK) and trying to increase Irish exports to the UK and other European markets. This led to Ireland joining the EEC in 1973 – though another reason for that was the fact that Ireland's biggest trading partner (the UK) was joining and the country could not afford to be cut off from its biggest market.

As the 70s and 80s went on, countries all over Europe moved to the right and workers' rights came under increasing attack. Reaganomics, Thatcherism, Gombeenism – whatever you want to call it – took hold and is still desperately hanging on across the world despite its evident failure in so many economies. It's not done yet, though – one of the things the left always underestimated was capitalism's resilience as long as there were markets and workforces still open to exploitation.

Ireland got a lot of money out of the EEC in the 70s. Lots of this went to farmers who were a pillar of support for Fianna Fail. Some, but not enough, went on education and infrastructure with the result that there was a balance of payments crisis in the 80s. More unemployment, more emigration. Later, money from Europe was spent a bit more wisely although plenty of it still ended up in brown envelopes.

The peace process (which got under way properly after Major replaced Thatcher and Clinton replaced Bush) made Ireland a safer bet for foreign investment. That and the recession in the UK meant that emigration started to reduce and talent had an outlet within Ireland. So far, so good. Then the economy got overheated and successive governments adopted a US-style neo-liberal economic doctrine despite the fact that most of the lasting benefit of the late 80s and 90s came out of Keynesian public investment.

At the same time, the tendency to create organizations and cliques which soon become primarily concerned with their own benefit meant that the country continued to be run by a political class that was concerned with feathering its own nest. What is extraordinary is the extent to which people were prepared to go along with it – but then the same thing happened in Britain in the 80s.

All of which brings me back to the question of how the country's mechanisms of government are set up. We as a people have, as I've said, a genius for creating organizations and hierarchies. We're not, perhaps, so great at maintaining a sense of purpose within them. That's why, in my view, a unitary state based on the Westminster model doesn't suit the country. In the absence of any real ideological or philosophical choice between the parties there is literally nothing to vote for. In Britain in 1945 people were presented with a real choice and a real hope and they went for it. That sort of chance only comes along once in a generation if you're lucky. Whether anyone is equipped to offer the same sort of choice and hope in Ireland in 2011 is another matter.

Well, that's enough from me for now. I didn't mean to blather on so long. Have a good Christmas, everyone.