Zooming in on the proposition that the planning system should favour the common good over individual rights, she wondered: “Who decided what the common good is?”The common good tends to augment the uncommonly privileged, nobody replied. Back in the committee room, the business delegates were arguing that adequate public infrastructure is essential for a competitive and resilient economy. “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war and we’re winning,” he confirmed, disapprovingly. For evidence that money speaks, see the Government’s reversal of the 2:1 expenditure ratio of public transport to roads in the revised National Development Plan. It is doomed not to serve the common good, that’s why.

Source: The Irish Times January 02, 2026 10:50 UTC