What the state is doing right: part three

From running our libraries to helping vulnerable children, to buying things in a smart way, to using technology to get us new passports and new services, to helping guide policy, the state is doing more for us than any of us know.

Let’s hear it for the library: five-year-old Max Lumsden-Grace reaches out at County Library, Tallaght. Ireland was the first place in the world to offer a national library service Pic: Rollingnews

We are steeped in divisive language. We hear every day about ‘entitlement culture’, and ‘the people who pay for everything’. We hear about who got what, how much things cost to provide, and who messed up. We very, very rarely hear about the things that as a consequence of our birth, or our decision to come to this place, we just have, that just work. This is the third part of my four-part ...