Miclin answers my "10 questions for the Green Party"

User "miclin" has answered my "10 questions for the Green Party" on politics.ie. I would like to take the opportunity to challenge some of miclin's answers, and I'll do this over the next few weeks when I have more time.

My questions and miclins answers are as follows;


miclin - I'm going to quickly answer these questions from the above post. As I don't use this site and am v busy, if you have any follow-up questions, please send to miclinglas@gmail.com

I'll post again at the end of December after the next budget to list the legislation we've pushed through at that point (presuming we're still in power!)

OceanFrog (OF) - Why are the Green Party denying the the peoples of Donegal, Waterford and Dublin South their right to a by-election? It has been many months since these people have been without their allowed level of representation ... why do the Green Party keep voting against holding these 3 by-elections?

miclin - I'd imagine they vote against them because they expect that opposition parties will win all three seats, making the government more unstable and reducing the amount of legislation from the pfg that will pass before FG/Labour have their turn. A slimmer majority would hand power to the independents and rebel FF backbenchers. Basic legislation like the road safety act wouldn't pass in that event. There is no legal requirement to hold by-elections before the next GE. I have no ethical problem with say Waterford 4 seater being represented by 3 TDs. They had 2 FF TDs now they have 1, so what?

OceanFrog (OF) - Why are the Green Party delaying on the referendum on children's rights? Why has John Gormley refused to meet Fregus Finlay to discuss the proposed referendum?

miclin - JG spends half his time meeting deputations from various special interest groups. I have previously heard untrue claims from people such as the hunting lobby that he had refused to meet them. I would take what Fergus Finlay says with a pinch of salt given that he is or was a senior Labour party spin doctor. The childrens rights legislation is important to get right and not rush through.

OceanFrog (OF) - Where is the ban on corporate donations promised by John Gormley?

miclin - The national convention in March mandated that this legislation be passed by Jan 2011. I can't see this happening. FF, FG and Labour all rely on corporate or union donations so why would they vote to cut off their blood supply? Government might fall on this issue. A FG/Lab govt wouldn't even consider banning corporate donations.

OceanFrog (OF) - Why have the Green Party appointed unqualified Green Party members to State jobs after promising that all such appointments would be openly advertised and transparent. Elizabeth Davidson was appointed to the board of IFCO (Irish Film Classification) ... was this position openly advertised, and is Elizabeth Davidson qualified for this job in any way? Elizabeth is just one example of this ... there are many others. How is this different to the gombeenism of FF on "Planet Bertie".

miclin - Under the current system, there are over 6,000 political appointments from the judiciary to state boards. I take your point, but Green appointments have been only made to a handful of these positions. The renewed pfg contains a commitment to reform this system to become more transparent. I was impressed that JG's archrival's wife was appointed to chair the DDDA. In the case of IFCO, the requirement is for a jury member type person to classify films. Film classification is entirely subjective and reflects the opinions and biases of the censor. The greens hare happy to have someone who holds their liberal worldview rather than a conservative backwoodsman telling us what we can't watch. Davidson has a background in education and I'm sure is well capable of classifying a film as any normally intelligent person could do.

OceanFrog (OF) - Shannon - Has there been even ONE inspection of US military flights passing through Sahnnon? Who knows what is coming through Shannon?

miclin - I doubt it. The deal on Shannon as I understand it is that no military flights would be allowed for non-UN mandated operations. As the current post invasion Iraq and Afghan operations have UN backing the issue does not arise. As regards CIA rendition flights, I don't know what progress has been made. There is a cabinet subcommittee supposed to decide on how to proceed. I'll ask them next time I see them.

OceanFrog (OF) - Tara - The argument was made by John Gormley and co. that it would cost €200m to buy us out of the contract with Eurolink, and that if we spent that money, it would be €200m less for our public service? How come we can now hand over multiples in billions to zombie banks and its ok?

miclin - The M3 was too late to stop. Not only was it contractually agreed to, it was under construction by the time the Greens entered government and had passed every legal hurdle. It was also a very popular project with the locals in Meath and had some safety benefits. On the plus side, the new windfall tax on rezoning combined with the new planning act will make it unattractive to overdevelop the junctions with unsustainable car dependent housing (the real reason for the project in the 1st place). Also there's still a chance that the UN will designate Tara a UNESCO heritage site, restricting any further development of the area.

miclin - I don't follow your reasoning that because the bank recaps have cost billions that money no longer has any value and we should throw it around.

OceanFrog (OF) - Why have the Green Party supported the longest summer break for the Dáil since 2003 (12 weeks in total)? The longest summer break of any country in Europe, and most democracies in the rest of the world.

miclin - In my opinion more legislative work is done when the dail is outside of session. What the opposition do during the recess I don't know.

OceanFrog (OF) - Secret Ministerial rotation deals - Why was a secret deal put in place to rotate Green Ministers after 2.5 years in Govt? Why was Eamon Ryan excluded from this secret deal, and why did he not know about the deal (he has claimed ignorance many times).

miclin - 'Secret ministerial rotation deal' is merely a pejorative term for cabinet reshuffle. A proportion of govt business is necessarily done in private such as cabinet meetings. Cabinet appointments are always privately made and non-transparent. The taoiseach picks someone for god knows what reason. I'm not sure what you expected the greens to do differently - hold an open competition for cabinet posts?

OceanFrog (OF) - If secret deals like the above exist, how can we be sure that other secret deals don't exist? Were secret deals done on Tara and Shannon? Why did Eamon Ryan not know about these secret deals between John Gormley and Bertie Ahern? What else don't we know? How can the Green Party still claim to be open and transparent whilst doing deals that GP members and GP Ministers don't even know about?

miclin - Could well have been done, I don't know. Transparency isn't a binary attribute.

OceanFrog (OF) - Why has the Irish EPI index dropped 10 places since Minister Gormley has been in charge. We were 10 places higher when we had Dick Roche in Minister Gormley's seat!

miclin - If you have some analytical skills and an interest in the Irish environment then why not find out for yourself? At first glance, I can see that there are more countries in the more recent EPI survey than in previous surveys, so the rankings will naturally be affected. Many environmental factors like biodiversity don't change dramatically from year to year, so I would start by examining which variables Ireland went down on in the most recent index to draw any conclusions. It is a fair question, though.

OceanFrog (OF) - Where are the Electoral, Tax and Dail reforms?
After the JO'D affair, the greens got agreement from FF for a reform of the expenses system that means you can view TDs expenses online, TDs have to sign in, vouched expenses. Corporate and income taxes have been kept low while consumption taxes have been maintained with a raft of new unpopular green polluter-pays taxes enacted or in pipeline.

miclin - As regards electoral reform, the electoral commission findings are due in the next couple of months. I wouldn't hold out much hope for electoral reform by this or the next dail. There have been many electoral commissions and reports in the past.

OceanFrog (OF) - Where's the GMO Legislation?

miclin - Just last week the EU has decided that member states will be allowed to decide to ban planting of GMO crops. I don't know if legislation is required for the agreement to make Ireland a gm-free zone. Contact Ciaran Cuffe's office if you want to find out further as they are the ministry dealing with this topic and I believe they are working on it now.

OceanFrog (OF) - Where is the ratification of Aahrus?

miclin - We had hoped to have this done in the spring but further legislative and regulatory changes are still needed before ratification is possible. There is more time to do this now that various pieces of major legislation passed at the end of the last session and I know it is of particular interest to JG.

OceanFrog (OF) - Where's the National Transport Strategy?
I don't think lack of strategy is the problem in transport. The most recent was 5 yrs ago: transport 21. Expect the new strategy to be an evolution of this with cycling and walking treated as valid transport methods. The strategy will be published for public consultation later this summer and finalised in the autumn.

miclin - The National transport authority has been set up as a result of enabling legislation in the Dublin transport authority act 2008 and the public transport regulation act 2009. This replaces the DTO and allows for a link between urban planning and transport infrastructure planning. Also a new licensing regime for public transport services has been created to replace the decades old former legislation.

miclin - Metro North will likely be approved by ABP in the next fortnight. I am hoping it will be contractually signed off before the end of the current dail when FG would cancel it. The interconnector railway order app has been submitted and will hopefully get through planning faster than Metro North. I doubt it will be signed off before the next govt. I have great hope for the reform of the Dublin Bus network as a result of the Deloitte report. The first set of reorganised bus routes is due in the next few weeks. RTPI is going live now and will complete by end of 2010/start 2011. Same timeframe for integrated ticketing.

miclin - Dunboyne rail will open this year as will Luas cherrywood. Luas saggart opens early next year. I expect that the extension of rail to Navan will be signed off earlier than expected following delays in metro north and the interconnector. Also dempsey being from navan may help!