Deciding what kind of country we want to live in - the Irish presidential race

Choosing Sean Gallagher as president could mean choosing to return to Ireland's old ways

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Sean Gallagher holding a baby on the campaign trail

Photo by Google Images

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Live coverage of the Irish presidential election on IrishCentral - Friday, October 28th

I have a very simple belief system when it comes to business or life in general.

The rules of the game are:

You create value

You distribute value

You capture some of that value for yourself

If you live a good life, you create more value than you capture

For my children, I want a state that provides the infrastructure physical and cultural that allows them to create plenty of value for their community.

I know that if they do, they will capture enough value to make the choices they need, and to offer their children all the choices they need.

Let’s leave the physical infrastructure to one side – that job is for government.

Let’s focus instead on the cultural infrastructure.

This is anchored by beliefs that are shared by the vast majority of a nation.

The beliefs we sign up to in Ireland include:

Equal rights regardless of birth, gender, race, creed or indeed access to dominant political organisations

Practical ethics in business and in private life

A commitment by citizens that balances personal liberty with the needs of the Nation and State

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Its not a long list. There may be more but let’s consider the role of the President in regard to this list.

I have had a number of discussions on twitter and offline about Sean Gallagher.

I don’t know him from a bar of soap, and I have nothing against the man.

One business guy suggested to me that every businessman in Ireland would do exactly what it is being suggested SG did in relation to tax. “Ripping the arse out of the tax code is a key skill in Irish business” is exactly how it was put to me.

That is not a sustainable model of business ethics, and that will become clear when the cute hoors not paying their fair share of tax go looking for college places for their kids, or visit their mum as she lies in a corridor on a trolley.

I don’t want to live in that country.

If a President does not sign up to the cultural infrastructure we want for Ireland, how can you expect others to do so.

We elect a President to reflect what’s great about our country.

Sean Gallagher’s campaign stood for “Hope” and “Positivity”.

Its what Ireland is crying out for, and its no surprise that he won a lot of support.

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