It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...

Charles Dickens, 'A Tale of Two Cities', 1859

Sound familiar? Dickens was talking about the French Revolution but it could have been a comment piece in any Irish newspaper yesterday. We're confused. We're hurt and we're looking for someone to blame. We must stop that.

Things have gone wrong. They were always going to. The kind of success that Ireland has enjoyed simply couldn't last forever. And probably there are some people in Ireland who carry a bit of blame... but frankly not that much. On the whole, Irish politicians have reacted more quickly and more intelligently than most.

It is natural to assume a greater importance for ourselves than we merit, but, in truth, we are a small economy and in this crisis we're like a rowing boat badly rocked by an enormous storm way out to sea that was not of our making.

So what are we to do? We should start by counting our blessings. We live in a most beautiful country and we have a quality of life that rivals anywhere else on earth. We are a society based on a sense of decency, on a sound and secure political system with decent laws. Rightly, we have a reputation for valuing things that are deeper and more important than the fripperies of material possessions.

We should stay with that and we should now seek to begin again. We all have to be prepared to move back a bit, including those lucky enough to have relatively secure jobs in the public sector, and we should build a new and more solid foundation on which to lay future prosperity, for prosperity there will be.

The Irish have a capacity to make things happen that has shown itself here in recent years and for many years all around the world. We should be proud of that. We must put aside blame and together seek to get things going again. A more recent quote seems appropriate: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" – JFK, 20 January 1961.

Sir Gerry?Robinson, born in?Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal, is a former chairman of Granada and recently presented 'Can Gerry Robinson save the NHS?'