A tricky year ahead... but we can triumph

PREDICTING the likely events of a coming year is usually misguided to the point of foolishness.

After all, 2019 will mark 30 years since Francis Fukuyama predicted the end of history itself, on the basis that the world had settled into a comfortable, stable trajectory. He clearly reckoned without Trump, Brexit and climate change!

That said, there are certain base assumptions on which we can start to consider our national priorities for 2019. The first is Brexit; the second is the Confidence and Supply arrangement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

To start with the second of those two: the year-long extension to the Fine GaelFianna Fáil deal should mean that we will not have a general election this year.

The importance of such stability for the nation cannot be overstated, and for this we should all be immensely grateful to Micheál Martin.

This concession has come at significant political cost to the Fianna Fáil leader, and yet he was unafraid to put the national interest ahead of party politics. He should be a little more forceful in explaining that notion to the Mé Féiners!

The stability created by his decision gives the Fine Gael-led Government every opportunity to address the major domestic issues facing us – principally health and housing.

Given that we still await the appointment of a new CEO of the HSE, perhaps a prudent approach would be to take this opportunity to break that giant, monolithic organisation into more manageable groups – though separated not by geography, as in the past, but by area of specialism.