HOW timely of Taoiseach Brian Cowen to invoke the centenary of the Easter Rising. It's six years before we celebrate (and we should proudly celebrate) the defining point in our history – which gives the government, and us as a people, plenty of time to come up with a vision of the type of Republic we want to be by 2016.

Even 94 years on, it is hard not to be impressed at how genuinely far-seeing and visionary the Easter proclamation, read out by Padraig Pearse at the GPO, actually was for its time – most notably the paragraph which "guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens".

I've never bought into the notion that the seven signatories would be turning in their graves if they saw what the independent state they helped create had become. Like all countries, our tiny republic has its good and its bad, but on the whole we're privileged to live in one of the most benign democracies on the planet – no mean achievement when one considers the carnage that has been inflicted across the world in the past century. That doesn't, however, mean there isn't serious scope for improvement.

Anybody who read Carl O'Brien's superb series in the Irish Times last week on the intellectually disabled in this country would know that there is. That Ireland still badly trails best practice in our treatment of this most vulnerable of groups after a decade of almost embarrassing riches is utterly shameful and runs directly contrary to the whole notion of a republic.

It also runs contrary to the idea of social partnership. But then social partnership was never about delivering for the most marginalised in society. It was the ultimate insiders' club. Those without a voice at the negotiating table were simply left behind. For all its flaws it is to be hoped that social partnership is resumed in the coming years, but a new type of partnership – one less focused on securing pay increases and grant schemes for those represented and more concerned about genuine social cohesion.

With that in mind one of the key goals over the next five years must be an overhaul of the health service with a view to ending the two-tier nature of the service. It would be naïve to believe that this can be easily done or to imagine that, regardless of what system is introduced, money won't be a factor in accessing the best health services. But we need to have a serious debate about the alternative options, particularly the universal health insurance proposed by the opposition which merits serious consideration.

Education is also a vital instrument in building social cohesion and prosperity. It's clear we need to spend more money on education, particularly at third level, but obviously we are seriously limited by the resources at our disposal. It would be nice to believe that there could be a proper debate about the return of third-level fees, but with the middle classes – the main beneficiary of free fees – so opposed, this won't happen.

Any five-year plan between now and 2016 would have to focus on the development of the smart economy, with a view to encouraging and developing an indigenous technology sector. I won't pretend to be anything close to an expert in this area but it seems obvious that the key issue here is infrastructure, and while there have been improvements in broadband provision in recent years, it is nowhere near enough.

Planning has always been something that we have been bad at in Ireland – witness the huge concentration of population in Dublin. And even that concentration is dispersed across a big area lacking the necessary density for the provision of services, including good public transport. The National Spatial Strategy was already a joke before it was further undermined by the 'one for everyone in the audience' decentralisation programme. A new strategy focused on concentrating investment and resources on the existing cities is badly needed.

Unfortunately, there is little chance of our current political system delivering such a radical change of thinking. And that means that changing that political system must be a central focus of any '2016 vision'. The multi-seat constituency system doesn't just create parish-pump politics. It results in every government formation being dictated by a few thousand (sometimes a few hundred or dozen) votes and that, in turn, means governments are terrified to do anything that might alienate even the smallest local vested interest. It rewards 'do-nothing politics' and means that the national interest generally plays second fiddle. Any change in the electoral system cannot happen overnight and would require a constitutional referendum, but it's time the nettle was grasped.

As it is with our national drink problem. The prohibition-style approach of the current government won't work and what is required is a change in culture. Again there is no quick-fix approach – even 2016 is too early – but the sooner efforts are begun, the sooner they will show results, however small.

The same holds across the board. The economic crisis has been awful for so many people but now it has happened, it offers a real opportunity to start again and build something more substantial, more in keeping with the hopes and vision of those who dreamed of building a new republic a century ago. What better legacy could there be for 1916.

scoleman@tribune.ie