O’Toole suggests that systems ultimately falter when citizens’ self-respect can no longer sustain inherited deference. Yet reliance on public tolerance is not a governance model. Durable institutions are not preserved by waiting for deference to collapse, but by embedding oversight from the outset. Institutions may endure organisationally, but survival without credibility risks continuity without legitimacy. The question is why this lesson remains so difficult to apply when openness and oversight offer a more stable foundation for public confidence.

Source: The Irish Times February 25, 2026 21:03 UTC