Minister for Education Mary Coughlan has told the Dáil that 353 fewer special needs assistants will be sanctioned following completion of a review of special education. Link.
FF (and the Green's are not blameless either) are directly responsible for the mess this country is in at the moment. Billions to bail out the banks yesterday ... who better to pay than intellectually disabled children?
The next time Paul Gogarty claims that the Green Party managed to reverse the education cuts imposed by the FF/Green Government, he should be reminded of this.
And if all this wasn't bad enough Anglo Irish Bank paid top management €19m in the 15 months to the end of last year, including €7m in salaries and €1m in directors' fees. Link.
So, Anglo bosses keep their huge salaries and bonuses, while intellectually disabled children pay to clean up the mess.
Words escape me. They really do.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Knowledge Economy ... what knowledge economy???
Recent research has found that almost 10% of second level schools have been forced to drop Physics as a subject offered to students. The findings indicate that the decision is as a direct result of education cutbacks ... the very same education cutbacks supported by the Green Ministers and TD's.
The Irish Independent editorial also comments on this.
Next time we hear Minister Ryan talking about the "green economy" or the "knowledge economy" he should be asked how his direct support of education cutbacks helps to achieve either.
The Irish Independent editorial also comments on this.
Next time we hear Minister Ryan talking about the "green economy" or the "knowledge economy" he should be asked how his direct support of education cutbacks helps to achieve either.
Green Party Founding Principles
The Green Party have seven founding principles. These seven principles were adopted by consensus by Comhaontas Glas at its foundation.
The seven principles are as follows;
1. The impact of society on the environment should not be ecologically disruptive.
2. Conservation of resources is vital to a sustainable society.
3. All political, social and economic decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level.
4. Society should be guided by self-reliance and co-operation at all levels.
5. As caretakers of the Earth, we have the responsibility to pass it on in a fit and healthy state.
6. The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests.
7. The poverty of two-thirds of the world's family demands a redistribution of the world's resources.
These principles were elaborated and expanded in the revised 1997 Constitution.
Hmmmmm.
This gives rise to a number of questions.
How is it possible to reconcile what's happening in Shannon with the 6th principle of the Green Party?
How is it possible reconcile the cut in overseas development aid with the 7th principle of the Green Party?
How is it possible to reconcile Green Party support for NAMA with ANY of the principles of the Party?
The Green Party also state they are for...
1. More decision-making at community level.
2. Open government.
3. A basic income for all citizens.
4. Renewable energy and Recycling.
5. Full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
6. Workers' co-ops and small family businesses.
7. Emphasis on public transport.
8. Non-violent direct action.
And against...
1. Pollution of air, sea and land.
2. The depopulation of the countryside and over-crowding in the cities.
3. Control of industry by large national and multinational companies.
4. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
5. Land and property speculation.
6. Both state and paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland.
7. The exploitation of the third world.
8. Exploitation of animals.
Again, its difficult to see how the actions of the Green Party in Government correlates with what they are supposedly for and against.
The seven principles are as follows;
1. The impact of society on the environment should not be ecologically disruptive.
2. Conservation of resources is vital to a sustainable society.
3. All political, social and economic decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level.
4. Society should be guided by self-reliance and co-operation at all levels.
5. As caretakers of the Earth, we have the responsibility to pass it on in a fit and healthy state.
6. The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests.
7. The poverty of two-thirds of the world's family demands a redistribution of the world's resources.
These principles were elaborated and expanded in the revised 1997 Constitution.
Hmmmmm.
This gives rise to a number of questions.
How is it possible to reconcile what's happening in Shannon with the 6th principle of the Green Party?
How is it possible reconcile the cut in overseas development aid with the 7th principle of the Green Party?
How is it possible to reconcile Green Party support for NAMA with ANY of the principles of the Party?
The Green Party also state they are for...
1. More decision-making at community level.
2. Open government.
3. A basic income for all citizens.
4. Renewable energy and Recycling.
5. Full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
6. Workers' co-ops and small family businesses.
7. Emphasis on public transport.
8. Non-violent direct action.
And against...
1. Pollution of air, sea and land.
2. The depopulation of the countryside and over-crowding in the cities.
3. Control of industry by large national and multinational companies.
4. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
5. Land and property speculation.
6. Both state and paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland.
7. The exploitation of the third world.
8. Exploitation of animals.
Again, its difficult to see how the actions of the Green Party in Government correlates with what they are supposedly for and against.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Eamon Ryan claims Ireland "would probably then have to leave the Euro"
Karl Whelan over on irisheconomy.ie says it was truly depressing to hear Eamon Ryan raise the prospect of Ireland having to leave the Euro.
On RTE’s Saturday View program, Minister Eamon Ryan said the following in relation to Anglo Irish Bank:
"It would be so nice if we could say we’ll let it go and that will be the end of that. The reality is … and that’s kind of Fine Gael’s position and what Labour seems to be saying. There are .. That means that we have to go and effectively say to the European Central Bank, who has a lot of money in deposit in Anglo, and say sorry we can’t pay you back. Now the European Central Bank, it hasn’t allowed a bank fail across Europe. So we would probably then have to leave the Euro. Now the risk of that, in terms of the tens of thousands of jobs that could leave this country because they’d say well Ireland is a riskier country to do business in, we don’t really want to do business there. That is what you’re talking about. So, it’s not easy, it’s not palatable but that’s the choice you’re faced with."
When RTE political reporter Brian Dowling then discussed the idea that there were alternative options to take, Minister Ryan confronted him saying “Do you think we should leave the Euro?”
Karl Whelan sets out the true facts as follows.
1. Whatever happens with Anglo, Ireland will not be leaving the euro. Minister Ryan’s assertions that we would essentially be expelled from the Euro if an Irish bank failed to pay back the ECB are groundless. This is not just my opinion. An ECB legal working paper summarises this issue as follows: “while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State’s expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible.”
2. The ECB has always been aware that it could lose money from making loans to a bank that is then unable to pay it back. This is why its loans to banks are all collateralised, based on a well-developed list of eligible collateral. This list does not include development loans. While it is still possible for the ECB to lose money on its loans to a failing bank (if the collateral turns out not to be worth the value of the loan) there has never been any rule that such an event would result in the country the bank resided in having to leave the euro.
3. There are, in any case, options for dealing with Anglo’s insolvency that could save the taxpayer money without going as far as failing to repay its ECB loans. For instance, Anglo could be declared insolvent and its subordinated bondholders fail to be repaid, while the Irish government could choose to pay back other more senior creditors. There are serious issues to discuss here. The prospect of leaving the Euro is not one of them.
The bottom line here is that Minister Ryan’s statements about leaving the Euro are without foundation. However, it is perfectly possible that they could form the basis for unfounded speculation that Ireland is somehow on the verge of leaving the Euro.
So, as Ireland takes the biggest financial decision in the history of its existance, the consistent evidence that senior Ministers do not understand the banking situation is extremely worrying.
On RTE’s Saturday View program, Minister Eamon Ryan said the following in relation to Anglo Irish Bank:
"It would be so nice if we could say we’ll let it go and that will be the end of that. The reality is … and that’s kind of Fine Gael’s position and what Labour seems to be saying. There are .. That means that we have to go and effectively say to the European Central Bank, who has a lot of money in deposit in Anglo, and say sorry we can’t pay you back. Now the European Central Bank, it hasn’t allowed a bank fail across Europe. So we would probably then have to leave the Euro. Now the risk of that, in terms of the tens of thousands of jobs that could leave this country because they’d say well Ireland is a riskier country to do business in, we don’t really want to do business there. That is what you’re talking about. So, it’s not easy, it’s not palatable but that’s the choice you’re faced with."
When RTE political reporter Brian Dowling then discussed the idea that there were alternative options to take, Minister Ryan confronted him saying “Do you think we should leave the Euro?”
Karl Whelan sets out the true facts as follows.
1. Whatever happens with Anglo, Ireland will not be leaving the euro. Minister Ryan’s assertions that we would essentially be expelled from the Euro if an Irish bank failed to pay back the ECB are groundless. This is not just my opinion. An ECB legal working paper summarises this issue as follows: “while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State’s expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible.”
2. The ECB has always been aware that it could lose money from making loans to a bank that is then unable to pay it back. This is why its loans to banks are all collateralised, based on a well-developed list of eligible collateral. This list does not include development loans. While it is still possible for the ECB to lose money on its loans to a failing bank (if the collateral turns out not to be worth the value of the loan) there has never been any rule that such an event would result in the country the bank resided in having to leave the euro.
3. There are, in any case, options for dealing with Anglo’s insolvency that could save the taxpayer money without going as far as failing to repay its ECB loans. For instance, Anglo could be declared insolvent and its subordinated bondholders fail to be repaid, while the Irish government could choose to pay back other more senior creditors. There are serious issues to discuss here. The prospect of leaving the Euro is not one of them.
The bottom line here is that Minister Ryan’s statements about leaving the Euro are without foundation. However, it is perfectly possible that they could form the basis for unfounded speculation that Ireland is somehow on the verge of leaving the Euro.
So, as Ireland takes the biggest financial decision in the history of its existance, the consistent evidence that senior Ministers do not understand the banking situation is extremely worrying.
Kark Whelan over on http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2010/03/27/ryan-save-anglo-or-leave-the-euro/, it was truly depressing to hear an Irish minister today raise the prospect of Ireland having to leave the Euro.
On RTE’s Saturday View program, Minister Eamon Ryan said the following in relation to Anglo Irish Bank:
It would be so nice if we could say we’ll let it go and that will be the end of that. The reality is … and that’s kind of Fine Gael’s position and what Labour seems to be saying. There are .. That means that we have to go and effectively say to the European Central Bank, who has a lot of money in deposit in Anglo, and say sorry we can’t pay you back. Now the European Central Bank, it hasn’t allowed a bank fail across Europe. So we would probably then have to leave the Euro. Now the risk of that, in terms of the tens of thousands of jobs that could leave this country because they’d say well Ireland is a riskier country to do business in, we don’t really want to do business there. That is what you’re talking about. So, it’s not easy, it’s not palatable but that’s the choice you’re faced with.
When RTE political reporter Brian Dowling then discussed the idea that there were alternative options to take, Minister Ryan confronted him saying “Do you think we should leave the Euro?”
I think that these are extremely unfortunate statements for an Irish government minister to make.
The facts are as follows.
1. Whatever happens with Anglo, Ireland will not be leaving the euro. Minister Ryan’s assertions that we would essentially be expelled from the Euro if an Irish bank failed to pay back the ECB are groundless. This is not just my opinion. An ECB legal working paper summarises this issue as follows: “while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State’s expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible.”
2. The ECB has always been aware that it could lose money from making loans to a bank that is then unable to pay it back. This is why its loans to banks are all collateralised, based on a well-developed list of eligible collateral. This list does not include development loans. While it is still possible for the ECB to lose money on its loans to a failing bank (if the collateral turns out not to be worth the value of the loan) there has never been any rule that such an event would result in the country the bank resided in having to leave the euro.
3. There are, in any case, options for dealing with Anglo’s insolvency that could save the taxpayer money without going as far as failing to repay its ECB loans. For instance, Anglo could be declared insolvent and its subordinated bondholders fail to be repaid, while the Irish government could choose to pay back other more senior creditors. There are serious issues to discuss here. The prospect of leaving the Euro is not one of them.
The bottom line here is that Minister Ryan’s statements about leaving the Euro are without foundation. However, it is perfectly possible that they could form the basis for unfounded speculation that Ireland is somehow on the verge of leaving the Euro. I would urge Minister Ryan to issue a clarifying statement correcting these assertions as soon as possible.
As we await perhaps the most momentous set of financial decisions ever taken by an Irish government, the consistent evidence that senior Ministers do not understand the banking situation is extremely worrying.
On RTE’s Saturday View program, Minister Eamon Ryan said the following in relation to Anglo Irish Bank:
It would be so nice if we could say we’ll let it go and that will be the end of that. The reality is … and that’s kind of Fine Gael’s position and what Labour seems to be saying. There are .. That means that we have to go and effectively say to the European Central Bank, who has a lot of money in deposit in Anglo, and say sorry we can’t pay you back. Now the European Central Bank, it hasn’t allowed a bank fail across Europe. So we would probably then have to leave the Euro. Now the risk of that, in terms of the tens of thousands of jobs that could leave this country because they’d say well Ireland is a riskier country to do business in, we don’t really want to do business there. That is what you’re talking about. So, it’s not easy, it’s not palatable but that’s the choice you’re faced with.
When RTE political reporter Brian Dowling then discussed the idea that there were alternative options to take, Minister Ryan confronted him saying “Do you think we should leave the Euro?”
I think that these are extremely unfortunate statements for an Irish government minister to make.
The facts are as follows.
1. Whatever happens with Anglo, Ireland will not be leaving the euro. Minister Ryan’s assertions that we would essentially be expelled from the Euro if an Irish bank failed to pay back the ECB are groundless. This is not just my opinion. An ECB legal working paper summarises this issue as follows: “while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State’s expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible.”
2. The ECB has always been aware that it could lose money from making loans to a bank that is then unable to pay it back. This is why its loans to banks are all collateralised, based on a well-developed list of eligible collateral. This list does not include development loans. While it is still possible for the ECB to lose money on its loans to a failing bank (if the collateral turns out not to be worth the value of the loan) there has never been any rule that such an event would result in the country the bank resided in having to leave the euro.
3. There are, in any case, options for dealing with Anglo’s insolvency that could save the taxpayer money without going as far as failing to repay its ECB loans. For instance, Anglo could be declared insolvent and its subordinated bondholders fail to be repaid, while the Irish government could choose to pay back other more senior creditors. There are serious issues to discuss here. The prospect of leaving the Euro is not one of them.
The bottom line here is that Minister Ryan’s statements about leaving the Euro are without foundation. However, it is perfectly possible that they could form the basis for unfounded speculation that Ireland is somehow on the verge of leaving the Euro. I would urge Minister Ryan to issue a clarifying statement correcting these assertions as soon as possible.
As we await perhaps the most momentous set of financial decisions ever taken by an Irish government, the consistent evidence that senior Ministers do not understand the banking situation is extremely worrying.
Is Ciaran "Dazed and Confused"?
This from the excellent cedarlounge blog. The post in question is here.
Looks like Ciaran Cuffe may be telling porkie pies. Either that, or he is dazed and confused (perhaps as a result of his mauling by VB ... see my post from a few days ago below).
Anyway, Ciaran claims he was at the 1982 Green Party convention in Glencree. One of the founder members of the Green Party, soubresauts, was there and he disagrees with Ciaran.
soubresauts says ... "What struck me most was Cuffe’s reference to his “28 years in the party” and the 1982 party convention in Glencree. It’s repeated, at some length, in Cuffe’s convention speech today (at http://convention.greenparty.ie/?p=257)
Direct Quote from Ciaran's speech:
I want to… recall a meeting that took place in the Glencree Reconciliation Centre in the Wicklow Hills back in 1982.
A small group of people met over the course of a weekend to draft the founding principles of the Green Party that still guide us today. We argued. We disagreed. Some people left the room, some slammed the door, but eventually we came to agreement on seven principles that still guide the Party’s work today.
Striking to me because I was there, and Ciaran Cuffe was not!
And then he gives us some guff about each of the principles. There is no way that Cuffe or anybody else can reconcile what the Greens in Government are doing with the sixth and seventh principles in particular."
The Green Party principles are here.
They are as follows;
1. The impact of society on the environment should not be ecologically disruptive.
2. Conservation of resources is vital to a sustainable society.
3. All political, social and economic decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level.
4. Society should be guided by self-reliance and co-operation at all levels.
5. As caretakers of the Earth, we have the responsibility to pass it on in a fit and healthy state.
6. The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests.
7. The poverty of two-thirds of the world's family demands a redistribution of the world's resources.
I'll let you decide if what the Greens in Government are doing contravenes any of these principles or not ...
Looks like Ciaran Cuffe may be telling porkie pies. Either that, or he is dazed and confused (perhaps as a result of his mauling by VB ... see my post from a few days ago below).
Anyway, Ciaran claims he was at the 1982 Green Party convention in Glencree. One of the founder members of the Green Party, soubresauts, was there and he disagrees with Ciaran.
soubresauts says ... "What struck me most was Cuffe’s reference to his “28 years in the party” and the 1982 party convention in Glencree. It’s repeated, at some length, in Cuffe’s convention speech today (at http://convention.greenparty.ie/?p=257)
Direct Quote from Ciaran's speech:
I want to… recall a meeting that took place in the Glencree Reconciliation Centre in the Wicklow Hills back in 1982.
A small group of people met over the course of a weekend to draft the founding principles of the Green Party that still guide us today. We argued. We disagreed. Some people left the room, some slammed the door, but eventually we came to agreement on seven principles that still guide the Party’s work today.
Striking to me because I was there, and Ciaran Cuffe was not!
And then he gives us some guff about each of the principles. There is no way that Cuffe or anybody else can reconcile what the Greens in Government are doing with the sixth and seventh principles in particular."
The Green Party principles are here.
They are as follows;
1. The impact of society on the environment should not be ecologically disruptive.
2. Conservation of resources is vital to a sustainable society.
3. All political, social and economic decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level.
4. Society should be guided by self-reliance and co-operation at all levels.
5. As caretakers of the Earth, we have the responsibility to pass it on in a fit and healthy state.
6. The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests.
7. The poverty of two-thirds of the world's family demands a redistribution of the world's resources.
I'll let you decide if what the Greens in Government are doing contravenes any of these principles or not ...
Monday, March 29, 2010
So, what exactly is Green Party position on Extraordinary Rendition?
The original PfG from 2007 stated;
“Extraordinary Rendition
The Irish Government is completely opposed to the practice of extraordinary rendition.
1. The Government will prioritize effective enforcement of a) Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act, 2000 b) The Geneva Conventions Acts 1962-1998.
To that end the Government will encourage and support An Garda Siochana in the investigation and enforcement of these Statutes. It will do so by making resources available for specialized training in the provisions of those Statutes to members of An Garda Siochána and by other means as may be required by An Garda Siochana in order to ensure effective protection for the dignity of all persons within or passing through the State.
We will ensure that all relevant legal instruments are used so that the practice of extraordinary rendition does not occur in this State in any form”.
OK. That seems clear enough to me.
However, in 2009 that all went in the bin and this replaced by;
“Renditions - We will review and change if necessary the legislation affecting civilian aircraft in the context of the existing and ongoing work of the Cabinet Sub Committee on Human Rights and will, as is appropriate, strengthen the powers of inspection of such aircraft and the collection of flight information”.
Hmmmmm.
Why was this changed? Does it represent a change in Green Party policy? Or is it just another watering down of Green Party policy to please Fianna Fail?
“Extraordinary Rendition
The Irish Government is completely opposed to the practice of extraordinary rendition.
1. The Government will prioritize effective enforcement of a) Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act, 2000 b) The Geneva Conventions Acts 1962-1998.
To that end the Government will encourage and support An Garda Siochana in the investigation and enforcement of these Statutes. It will do so by making resources available for specialized training in the provisions of those Statutes to members of An Garda Siochána and by other means as may be required by An Garda Siochana in order to ensure effective protection for the dignity of all persons within or passing through the State.
We will ensure that all relevant legal instruments are used so that the practice of extraordinary rendition does not occur in this State in any form”.
OK. That seems clear enough to me.
However, in 2009 that all went in the bin and this replaced by;
“Renditions - We will review and change if necessary the legislation affecting civilian aircraft in the context of the existing and ongoing work of the Cabinet Sub Committee on Human Rights and will, as is appropriate, strengthen the powers of inspection of such aircraft and the collection of flight information”.
Hmmmmm.
Why was this changed? Does it represent a change in Green Party policy? Or is it just another watering down of Green Party policy to please Fianna Fail?
An Open Letter to Deirdre deBurca (from shoegirl)
OK, seen as my last few blog entries have been about Deirdre deBurca, I thought I'd end my current borderline obsession with her (for now at least!) with one final post.
I came across an open letter to Deirdre from shoegirl. Excellent letter ... I think shoegirl speaks for a lot of us ex-Greens.
Deirdre's original letter of resignation is here.
shoegirl's letter in full ...
"Dear Deirdre:
As a former Green party voter, who shall never, ever again be deceived into voting for a party that you now so correctly describe as an extension of Fianna Fail, I wish to congratulate you on your honesty and integrity. I truly hope that your future finds you somewhere that you can continue your hard work with the same fundamental values.
I was born and bred in Irelad's most corrupt constituency of North Dublin and saw at first hand what property development based politics was doing to the locality. I was gratified by Trevor Sargeants local rise and despite coming from a slight FG background (and having been a party member at a couple of stages of my life) ended up regularly voting for Trevor. I couldn't vote FG due to the continued membership and candidacy of somebody who felt it constistent with her values to accept tens of thousands of pounds from developers while workingin a senior capacity for the then Eastern Health Board and giving the developers advice on EHB land. Until FG expells this person from its fold it cannot moan about FF corruption.
Like many Green voters I felt bitterly angry and betrayed when Gormless let the electorate down and supported FF instead of coalition building with the opposition. They sold us out completely, and many of us will never trust the Greens again. We've been sold a pig in a poke on development, on the environment, on serious issues such as waste management and the use of natural resources. Serious contenious issues like Rossport have been abandoned to extreme left-wing crusties and Shannon remains utterly dependent on the US millitary while the rest of the airline industry sings to Michael O Learys tune. This whole package was one of massive deceit. It wasn't what the Greens have ever offered us.
There is no doubt that Bertie and Biffo made a fool of the Greens, but they made a bigger fool of Green voters. You are right and honst to resign your role. The Greens are lying when they pretend there is no split in the party. The party is and has been utterly ravaged. Power has eaten its heart out and left it a hollow, meaningless shell. It no longer has any real power since only the occasional bit of lip service is done to the Green issues it once addressed. I suspect by the end of the election Trevor will be sitting on his own in the Dail, if at all.
Anyway thanks for standing up for ex Green voters and for being honest, best of luck with your next plans.
all the best
Laura
a disgruntled ex Green voter"
I came across an open letter to Deirdre from shoegirl. Excellent letter ... I think shoegirl speaks for a lot of us ex-Greens.
Deirdre's original letter of resignation is here.
shoegirl's letter in full ...
"Dear Deirdre:
As a former Green party voter, who shall never, ever again be deceived into voting for a party that you now so correctly describe as an extension of Fianna Fail, I wish to congratulate you on your honesty and integrity. I truly hope that your future finds you somewhere that you can continue your hard work with the same fundamental values.
I was born and bred in Irelad's most corrupt constituency of North Dublin and saw at first hand what property development based politics was doing to the locality. I was gratified by Trevor Sargeants local rise and despite coming from a slight FG background (and having been a party member at a couple of stages of my life) ended up regularly voting for Trevor. I couldn't vote FG due to the continued membership and candidacy of somebody who felt it constistent with her values to accept tens of thousands of pounds from developers while workingin a senior capacity for the then Eastern Health Board and giving the developers advice on EHB land. Until FG expells this person from its fold it cannot moan about FF corruption.
Like many Green voters I felt bitterly angry and betrayed when Gormless let the electorate down and supported FF instead of coalition building with the opposition. They sold us out completely, and many of us will never trust the Greens again. We've been sold a pig in a poke on development, on the environment, on serious issues such as waste management and the use of natural resources. Serious contenious issues like Rossport have been abandoned to extreme left-wing crusties and Shannon remains utterly dependent on the US millitary while the rest of the airline industry sings to Michael O Learys tune. This whole package was one of massive deceit. It wasn't what the Greens have ever offered us.
There is no doubt that Bertie and Biffo made a fool of the Greens, but they made a bigger fool of Green voters. You are right and honst to resign your role. The Greens are lying when they pretend there is no split in the party. The party is and has been utterly ravaged. Power has eaten its heart out and left it a hollow, meaningless shell. It no longer has any real power since only the occasional bit of lip service is done to the Green issues it once addressed. I suspect by the end of the election Trevor will be sitting on his own in the Dail, if at all.
Anyway thanks for standing up for ex Green voters and for being honest, best of luck with your next plans.
all the best
Laura
a disgruntled ex Green voter"
Deirdre deBurca's interview with Village Magazine - March 2010
Deirdre deBurca's interview with Village Magazine about Green Party experiences in Government in full here.
This is a frank and revealing interview. I wont reproduce the interview in any detail here, but I urge you to read what she has to say about the Green Party and the reasons she resigned from the PP.
Some of the responses are also interesting. The following is from David Grey ex-Green Party cllr.
Hi Deirdre,
although not privy to many of the internal workings of the Parliamentary Party it was quite clear and evident looking in from the outside that FF were running rings around the Greens.
I made the point to John Gormley after the local elections that the Party needed to have a “bad cop” to deal with FF, whether that be a Parliamentarian or the Grassroots, John promised me that grassroots involvement in the agreement for the new programme for Govt would happen he even asked me if I would be interested, to which I replied I would, but only if selected by grassroots members!
It was plain to see that FF were falling apart at the time, Biffo was nearly dead in the water, a General election would have finished him as Leader, we held all the cards, especially if we portrayed ourselves as a Party of principle before power.
The Greens could have quite publically been seen as a Party that was wagging the tail of the FF dog, instead they looked like wimps, and as usual John Gormley broke his promises (not for the first time)!
I have since left the Green Party they have sold out on Social issues, many like me have left, we are attempting to form a new political Party which will not sell out on Social issues, will not do just about anything to remain in power & will listen to the people that vote for us!
regards
David Grey- Green Independent
This is a frank and revealing interview. I wont reproduce the interview in any detail here, but I urge you to read what she has to say about the Green Party and the reasons she resigned from the PP.
Some of the responses are also interesting. The following is from David Grey ex-Green Party cllr.
Hi Deirdre,
although not privy to many of the internal workings of the Parliamentary Party it was quite clear and evident looking in from the outside that FF were running rings around the Greens.
I made the point to John Gormley after the local elections that the Party needed to have a “bad cop” to deal with FF, whether that be a Parliamentarian or the Grassroots, John promised me that grassroots involvement in the agreement for the new programme for Govt would happen he even asked me if I would be interested, to which I replied I would, but only if selected by grassroots members!
It was plain to see that FF were falling apart at the time, Biffo was nearly dead in the water, a General election would have finished him as Leader, we held all the cards, especially if we portrayed ourselves as a Party of principle before power.
The Greens could have quite publically been seen as a Party that was wagging the tail of the FF dog, instead they looked like wimps, and as usual John Gormley broke his promises (not for the first time)!
I have since left the Green Party they have sold out on Social issues, many like me have left, we are attempting to form a new political Party which will not sell out on Social issues, will not do just about anything to remain in power & will listen to the people that vote for us!
regards
David Grey- Green Independent
John Gormley's idea of "Political Reform"
The phrase "Political Reform" is oft mentioned by the Green Party. Much was promised before they entered government with Fianna Fail in 2007.
What has been delivered thus far?
Well, not much.
The rhetoric continues ... and that's about it. Lots and lots of rhetoric, and little or no action.
In fact, you could argue that John Gormley is not being honest about desire to deliver true political reform. His sheer cynicism can be seen in his actions on Seanad reform. He has decided that the one part of the House he will reform is the part elected by thousands of graduates, not the part elected by a couple of hundred senators, where fifty votes can get you a seat. But then the rotten borough element of the election of 43 senators by councillors, TD's and senators is popular with Fianna Fail because until now they had the largest number of councillors, TD's and senators. I am not defending the graduate bit, just pointing out that if you had a choice of reforming a bit where at least thousands of electors take part, or the bit where a couple of hundred do, and where most people are elected by the latter, you would think the latter would be the place to start. But not it seems for FF-ised Gormley. You see FF has no seats among the graduate seats, so they are an easy target. But targeting the bit that has FF senators would be too radical and too challenging.
So the rhetoric continues and, as usual, Gormley ducks it.
What has been delivered thus far?
Well, not much.
The rhetoric continues ... and that's about it. Lots and lots of rhetoric, and little or no action.
In fact, you could argue that John Gormley is not being honest about desire to deliver true political reform. His sheer cynicism can be seen in his actions on Seanad reform. He has decided that the one part of the House he will reform is the part elected by thousands of graduates, not the part elected by a couple of hundred senators, where fifty votes can get you a seat. But then the rotten borough element of the election of 43 senators by councillors, TD's and senators is popular with Fianna Fail because until now they had the largest number of councillors, TD's and senators. I am not defending the graduate bit, just pointing out that if you had a choice of reforming a bit where at least thousands of electors take part, or the bit where a couple of hundred do, and where most people are elected by the latter, you would think the latter would be the place to start. But not it seems for FF-ised Gormley. You see FF has no seats among the graduate seats, so they are an easy target. But targeting the bit that has FF senators would be too radical and too challenging.
So the rhetoric continues and, as usual, Gormley ducks it.
Restoring Green Pride
Deirdre deBurca had some interesting things to say over the weekend in this article.
I'll admit that I have frequently disagreed with what Deirdre has had to say in the past, but I agree with the following points she raises.
"I believe that the Green Party needs to address some key issues now in order to make a stand for its core policies and principles and to re-assert its reputation as a party of integrity:-
• An open enquiry (neither secret nor private) into the DDDA should be set up to establish exactly how this situation came to pass and no stone should be left unturned, even if this leads to embarrassment for current members of the Government. The findings should be acted upon and legislation introduced to ensure that such a situation cannot happen again. Full transparency should be ensured.
• Minister Gormley should immediately remove any remaining members of the DDDA board during whose tenure the agency became insolvent and was brought into disrepute.
• Professor Niamh Brennan told the Oireachtas Environment Committee in December 2009 of the systematic conflict of interest between the DDDA and Anglo. This went right to the heart of the problem that the taxpayer is now left to clean up. However, the three reports to date do not apparently deal with this issue. John Gormley should clarify if indeed such a report has been commissioned.
• I believe that there is a significant danger of NAMA becoming another DDDA on a national scale, considering the wide-ranging powers it will have to develop the land assets it acquires, and the lack of transparency that will apply to its activities due to its exemption from Freedom of Information legislation. I think the Green Party in government has to make a clear commitment to ensure that the activities of NAMA do not result in future planning deals that are not in the public interest, but rather in the interests of a limited circle"
Deirdre's article is also being mentioned over on P.ie. This is what one poster has to say ...
"She (Deirdre) is right about the incredible inability of Gormley in particular to criticise his coalition partners. You'd think from Gormley's speeches that it was FG who did all the rezoning, FG that did all the reckless spending, FG who is the only party to accept corporate donations. If he is so principled, why can't be be honest about his own partner's recklessness? His posing as Mr Proberty seems a big hollow and self-serving when he cannot criticise his partners when they are the ones largely responsible for the actions he is blaming everyone else for".
I'll admit that I have frequently disagreed with what Deirdre has had to say in the past, but I agree with the following points she raises.
"I believe that the Green Party needs to address some key issues now in order to make a stand for its core policies and principles and to re-assert its reputation as a party of integrity:-
• An open enquiry (neither secret nor private) into the DDDA should be set up to establish exactly how this situation came to pass and no stone should be left unturned, even if this leads to embarrassment for current members of the Government. The findings should be acted upon and legislation introduced to ensure that such a situation cannot happen again. Full transparency should be ensured.
• Minister Gormley should immediately remove any remaining members of the DDDA board during whose tenure the agency became insolvent and was brought into disrepute.
• Professor Niamh Brennan told the Oireachtas Environment Committee in December 2009 of the systematic conflict of interest between the DDDA and Anglo. This went right to the heart of the problem that the taxpayer is now left to clean up. However, the three reports to date do not apparently deal with this issue. John Gormley should clarify if indeed such a report has been commissioned.
• I believe that there is a significant danger of NAMA becoming another DDDA on a national scale, considering the wide-ranging powers it will have to develop the land assets it acquires, and the lack of transparency that will apply to its activities due to its exemption from Freedom of Information legislation. I think the Green Party in government has to make a clear commitment to ensure that the activities of NAMA do not result in future planning deals that are not in the public interest, but rather in the interests of a limited circle"
Deirdre's article is also being mentioned over on P.ie. This is what one poster has to say ...
"She (Deirdre) is right about the incredible inability of Gormley in particular to criticise his coalition partners. You'd think from Gormley's speeches that it was FG who did all the rezoning, FG that did all the reckless spending, FG who is the only party to accept corporate donations. If he is so principled, why can't be be honest about his own partner's recklessness? His posing as Mr Proberty seems a big hollow and self-serving when he cannot criticise his partners when they are the ones largely responsible for the actions he is blaming everyone else for".
John Gormley ... "I actually found him kind of creepy ..."
Interesting post from one of the better posters over on Politics.ie. I'm going to reproduce the post in full as it acts as an antidote to some of the propaganda from the Green spin machine.
"Ryan can be smug at times, but behind that I do detect a real belief in what he says. Trevor can be away with the fairies, but again there is a real belief there.
But John Gormley comes across to me as someone who isn't real, who is an arch-pragmatist who will say whatever he has to, and do whatever he has to. And if that means on a daily basis doing a u-turn from what he said the previous day, so be it.
I don't know him well, but I did have a chance to meet him once at a time where the mask was off. I actually found him kind of creepy, which I never expected. Eamonn, Trevor, etc come across as being real. I was struck by the sudden feeling of creepiness I felt over Gormley. It was as if he was an actor who was out-of-character for a moment and out-of-character you saw he wasn't genuine. I have only experienced the same feeling of creepiness twice before, when meeting Bertie Ahern in 2007 and Michael Lowry in the mid 1990s. The Lowry one was striking. I had never met the man before. I was attending a political function, and at the bar with some political friends when he came over, with a "how are ya, lads" line and started chatting. None of us had met him before. We all that the same feeling - he was phoney, smarmy, and I wouldn't trust him one bit. And this was before the revelations about him came out.
Bertie turned up at my door, canvassing, oozing the ordinary man charm. I wasn't overly impressed, but as he left he took a call. I happened to be leaving the house and walked past him. He was like a different man on the phone - the ordinary man act had stopped, and I found him frankly creepy and phoney. The 'act' on my doorstep was just an 'act'. He was playing a role. I hadn't been meant to see the 'real Bertie' - it hadn't noticed me leaving the house and so wasn't in actor mode.
That was what I found with Gormley - that he is an actor playing a role. So when he has to lambast FF and talk about 'planet Bertie' he will. When he has to play the loyal and dutiful colleague of FF he will. When he has to launch unfair attacks he will. When he has to lovebomb people he will. But take off the mask and there is little there of any substance. I know a lot of people think a lot of politicians are like that. That actually isn't the case. They may over-egg the pudding a bit on the media, but there is actually substance behind the mask - and real principles and beliefs.
I don't find that with John Gormley. Yesterday's speech and today's interview confirmed that to me. He was uber-smug and superior, devoid of reality and utterly self-serving. And that is the sort of politics I detest in anyone. The public deserve better."
"Ryan can be smug at times, but behind that I do detect a real belief in what he says. Trevor can be away with the fairies, but again there is a real belief there.
But John Gormley comes across to me as someone who isn't real, who is an arch-pragmatist who will say whatever he has to, and do whatever he has to. And if that means on a daily basis doing a u-turn from what he said the previous day, so be it.
I don't know him well, but I did have a chance to meet him once at a time where the mask was off. I actually found him kind of creepy, which I never expected. Eamonn, Trevor, etc come across as being real. I was struck by the sudden feeling of creepiness I felt over Gormley. It was as if he was an actor who was out-of-character for a moment and out-of-character you saw he wasn't genuine. I have only experienced the same feeling of creepiness twice before, when meeting Bertie Ahern in 2007 and Michael Lowry in the mid 1990s. The Lowry one was striking. I had never met the man before. I was attending a political function, and at the bar with some political friends when he came over, with a "how are ya, lads" line and started chatting. None of us had met him before. We all that the same feeling - he was phoney, smarmy, and I wouldn't trust him one bit. And this was before the revelations about him came out.
Bertie turned up at my door, canvassing, oozing the ordinary man charm. I wasn't overly impressed, but as he left he took a call. I happened to be leaving the house and walked past him. He was like a different man on the phone - the ordinary man act had stopped, and I found him frankly creepy and phoney. The 'act' on my doorstep was just an 'act'. He was playing a role. I hadn't been meant to see the 'real Bertie' - it hadn't noticed me leaving the house and so wasn't in actor mode.
That was what I found with Gormley - that he is an actor playing a role. So when he has to lambast FF and talk about 'planet Bertie' he will. When he has to play the loyal and dutiful colleague of FF he will. When he has to launch unfair attacks he will. When he has to lovebomb people he will. But take off the mask and there is little there of any substance. I know a lot of people think a lot of politicians are like that. That actually isn't the case. They may over-egg the pudding a bit on the media, but there is actually substance behind the mask - and real principles and beliefs.
I don't find that with John Gormley. Yesterday's speech and today's interview confirmed that to me. He was uber-smug and superior, devoid of reality and utterly self-serving. And that is the sort of politics I detest in anyone. The public deserve better."
Cllr Pat Kavanagh resigns from the Green Party
Green Party town councillor Pat Kavanagh has resigned from the Green Party. She handed her letter of resignation in on the final day of the Green Party convention in Waterford.
Pat plans to remain an Independent Green councillor. She along with other disaffected and ex-Greens plan to form an alternative, decentralised federation with a national green agenda. Others involved are the Donegal Greens and David Grey.
Her full press release and letter of resignation are reproduced below.
PRESS STATEMENT:
Green Party Town Councillor for Wicklow Town, Pat Kavanagh, today announced her resignation from the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas. Cllr Kavanagh was one of 17 successful candidates for the Green Party in the June 2009 Local Elections, but by October 2009 was an active campaigner against the NAMA Bill. Cllr Kavanagh wishes to reassure her local constituents that she intends to keep her Wicklow Town Council seat as an Independent Green and along with other disaffected and ex-Greens, is working towards providing the electorate with an alternative, decentralised Federation.
Letter of Resignation to General Secretary:
28th March 2010
I wish to tender my resignation from Wicklow Green Party and The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas with immediate effect. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow members of Wicklow Green Party for all their support and endeavours at local level throughout Co Wicklow.
Unfortunately, I can no longer stand over certain decisions made on behalf of the Green Party at Government level, or justify them to myself or to my constituents, particularly in relation to the NAMA Bill, appointments to State Boards and the National Pensions Framework. I see a continuously eroding democracy within the party where ‘spin’ and manipulation by management are becoming the norm, and a chasm between stated Party policies and the implementation of those policies. This is not the party I signed up to and it no longer represents my position.
I am leaving the Party with respect and affection for all those sincerely principled grass roots members that I have met during my time in The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas, in particular the members of Wicklow Green Party. I hope to continue to work with them, where possible, in a spirit of co-operation as an Independent Green Councillor. Along with other disaffected and ex-Greens, I will continue to pursue a National Green Agenda as part of an alternative, decentralised Federation.
I wish to sincerely thank the staff of The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas for their courtesy and kindness throughout my time in the Party.
Cllr Pat Kavanagh
Wicklow Town Council
Pat plans to remain an Independent Green councillor. She along with other disaffected and ex-Greens plan to form an alternative, decentralised federation with a national green agenda. Others involved are the Donegal Greens and David Grey.
Her full press release and letter of resignation are reproduced below.
PRESS STATEMENT:
Green Party Town Councillor for Wicklow Town, Pat Kavanagh, today announced her resignation from the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas. Cllr Kavanagh was one of 17 successful candidates for the Green Party in the June 2009 Local Elections, but by October 2009 was an active campaigner against the NAMA Bill. Cllr Kavanagh wishes to reassure her local constituents that she intends to keep her Wicklow Town Council seat as an Independent Green and along with other disaffected and ex-Greens, is working towards providing the electorate with an alternative, decentralised Federation.
Letter of Resignation to General Secretary:
28th March 2010
I wish to tender my resignation from Wicklow Green Party and The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas with immediate effect. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow members of Wicklow Green Party for all their support and endeavours at local level throughout Co Wicklow.
Unfortunately, I can no longer stand over certain decisions made on behalf of the Green Party at Government level, or justify them to myself or to my constituents, particularly in relation to the NAMA Bill, appointments to State Boards and the National Pensions Framework. I see a continuously eroding democracy within the party where ‘spin’ and manipulation by management are becoming the norm, and a chasm between stated Party policies and the implementation of those policies. This is not the party I signed up to and it no longer represents my position.
I am leaving the Party with respect and affection for all those sincerely principled grass roots members that I have met during my time in The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas, in particular the members of Wicklow Green Party. I hope to continue to work with them, where possible, in a spirit of co-operation as an Independent Green Councillor. Along with other disaffected and ex-Greens, I will continue to pursue a National Green Agenda as part of an alternative, decentralised Federation.
I wish to sincerely thank the staff of The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas for their courtesy and kindness throughout my time in the Party.
Cllr Pat Kavanagh
Wicklow Town Council
Saturday, March 27, 2010
John Gormley's speech to the Green Party Annual Convention – 27 March 2010
GREEN PARTY ANNUAL CONVENTION 2010
LEADER'S SPEECH
Waterford – 27 March 2010
Thank you, Mary. Or should I say, Minister White. The first woman TD for Carlow/Kilkenny, the first woman Minister for Carlow, the Minister for Equality, Human Rights and Integration. A Minister who will truly strive to ensure that the children and people of this country are treated equally, whether they are gay or straight, Traveller or settled, black or white. The Equality agenda is now truly in safe hands with Mary White.
My friends, Mary has been joined, as you know, this week by another Minister. The Minister for Sustainability, across three Departments, Agriculture, Transport and Planning – a man who is an expert and qualified in these fields and who has the passion and the commitment to get the job done – Minister Ciarán Cuffe.
I want to welcome two other relatively recent arrivals to our Oireachtas team – Senator Mark Dearey, a businessman from Dundalk, and the former Mayor of Galway, Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin. Both are worthy additions to Seanad Éireann, both have been shown the ropes by our experienced Chairperson, Senator Dan Boyle. Of course, Dan's first task was to show them how to use Twitter. I think they have become regular tweeters.
I welcome especially our colleagues from the North, especially Brian Wilson MLA. Our northern colleagues’ presence reminds everyone how proud we are to be a party operating in all parts of this island. This year the Green Party will contest the Westminster elections and we support our three candidates: Steven Agnew, Cadogan Enright and Adam McGibbon.
Friends,
It's great to be in Waterford at our first ever Convention in this historic and beautiful city, and my thanks to the Waterford Greens and to the Conference team for their hard work in organising this evening's event.
We are being joined this evening by many thousands of viewers during Earth Hour, a global event to celebrate and highlight the importance of climate change. To mark this event, the organisers of Earth Hour have asked us to dim the lights to publicise the event. We ask you at home to switch off any un-necessary lights at home.
Climate change, as we know, is the biggest challenge facing humanity and, as Minister for the Environment, I left the Copenhagen Summit with a sense of disappointment, but also with a reinforced sense that, in politics, change happens incrementally. And yet, right now, just over the half-way stage in Government, having achieved so much, we are on the cusp of achieving a lot more.
It requires patience, diligence and resilience – and we Greens have shown that we have those qualities. Government isn't for the faint-hearted. Yes, it's an enormous privilege, but it's also tough and gruelling, and you get results. And sometimes I am asked: "If you knew then what you know now, if you knew that the recession was going to be as tough, would you have done it? Would you have taken that fateful decision in the Mansion House to enter Government?". And my answer is clear: "yes, yes, yes".
Because we didn't enter blindly into this. Of all the parties, we knew it was not going to be plain sailing. We were the realists who knew that there were stormy waters ahead. But equally we knew that this was the opportunity to implement the policies that this country needed to get back on its feet. Policies that should have been implemented years ago, but weren't because the other political parties didn't have the political will and courage to do so. This was our opportunity to change all that – and we had to grab it with both hands.
Because, my friends, political life – like life itself – is not a dress rehearsal. We are in politics to get things done, to do the right thing and, not just to do things better than they were before, but to do things that have not been done before. And yes, there have been times when, like the Samuel Beckett character in his book The Unnamable, we have said: "I can't go on, I'll go on".
Governing during the good times can be challenging. But governing during the greatest economic that this country has ever seen, tests your mettle. We have stood solid and we have taken the blows, and suffered electoral reverses last June. We lost many great, loyal councillors. They lost, not because they were poor performers, but because they were in a Government party when it certainly was not popular to be in Government. But their loss is also the loss of the communities. People are beginning to realise that, without the Greens on the local councils, that planning problems have raised their ugly heads again.
Let me be very blunt on this point. There are councillors up and down this country who know that the new Planning Bill currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas will mean that the sort of unfettered and irresponsible rezonings that took place previously, must now come to an end. And they are trying in a last ditch effort to get through their irresponsible zoning proposals.
The Labour Party councillors have behaved, for the most part, responsibly – but not so Fine Gael councillors. Fine Gael is still receiving contributions from the developers, still rezoning, and still has not woken up to the new reality. They still believe that this sort of mad over-zoning stimulates the economy. Well, it doesn't. It is disgraceful and it is time that Enda took these guys to task and told them that enough is enough.
I know that the prospect of getting this new Planning legislation passed in the Dáil was just one of the reasons why a massive 83% of the Party adopted the renewed Programme for Government. This evening I want to thank you, the Party membership, for your unstinting support. We listened to the membership and negotiated a better Programme for Government – a Programme which is a roadmap out of this recession and takes, not an opportunistic short-term view, but a more difficult long-term view of where we want to be as a society right up to the year 2020.
Ta an Comhaontas Glas ag obair go dian chun comhoibriu a chothu sa rialtas seo. Ta na pairtithe sa foireann rialtais ag oibriu go maith lena cheile agus ag feachaint chuig na duthlain ata amach romhainn, ag diriu go hairithe ar cursai eacnamaiochta agus fostaiochta.
The Green Party, I am proud to say, identified education as fundamental to our progress as a learning and innovative society. Our aim was to protect education spending, to protect class sizes, to restore the book grant for the disadvantaged, to ensure access to university and, my friends, we succeeded. On the day we agreed the renewed Programme for Government in the RDS, I paid tribute to the work of the Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Education – and this evening I would like to do so again. Paul Gogarty's knowledge of and dedication to the education system was the driver towards that successful outcome and this evening the Green Party would like to thank him for his contribution.
Without the necessary investment in education, there can be no knowledge or smart economy. And without a strategic vision for education, all talk of the smart economy is but empty rhetoric.
Our engineers know that capital investment in infrastructure is vital. With the Green Party in Government, investment in flood protection and water infrastructure has increased against a back-drop of massive cut-backs. I am proud to tell you that we are spending more on these two issues than we did in the boom years and before we came into Government.
The €508m being spent this year on water infrastructure will create and sustain 4,000 jobs. Jobs are our priority. Green collar jobs, in a green economy. The potential in this area is simply enormous and we need to position this country to avail of those opportunities.
One man who knows this better than most is Minister Eamon Ryan. For Eamon it's not just about doing the right thing. It's about doing the bright thing.
Only yesterday, Eamon launched the new on-street charging points for the electric car. Under Eamon’s leadership the electric car will become a reality in Ireland.
His initiative has resulted in €1m per week being invested by government in insulating people’s homes. That, my friends, is showing real leadership in getting people back to work.
Friends, it is by maintaining our reputation as a clean, green country that we will sustain jobs here in the food industry. That has been the consistent message of Trevor Sargent who, as Minister for Food, was forever promoting Irish companies before he left office.
Bhi aifeala orainn nuair a bhi ar Trevor eiri as a phost mar Aire Stait sa Roinn Talamhaiochta. Dhein se ard-obair sa jab sin – rud a d’fhadmhaigh - fiu - lucht an freasura ag an am.
Every year since entering Government, I have paid tribute to Trevor at this annual Conference. But, I think we all agree, that it was the manner of his parting that said most about the character of the man. No excuses, no delays just decisive action. He is a credit to the Green Party and to Irish politics – a man who epitomises what it is to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing also means recognising the real pain that this recession is causing to young families who are finding it tough to make ends meet. They face high mortgages, negative equity, higher taxes and, in many cases, the loss of income through unemployment. I have met the wives and mothers who are distressed by financial pressure, men and women robbed of their dignity through the loss of a job, and I have seen the despair of parents who wonder if the education of their children has been a waste of time and money now that there seems to be little prospect of employment.
My message this evening to those people is one of hope and encouragement. The tough and decisive action which we have taken has sown the seeds of recovery. And that is now recognised internationally. We have cut public spending, gone after the tax exiles, and closed the tax loopholes for the rich. We have a new Governor of the Central Bank and a new Regulator from outside the jurisdiction, as we recommended. Despite the financial crisis we have maintained the budget to fight homelessness, we have closed the gap between the rich and poor by increasing taxes on the wealthy. The past two Budgets have placed the greatest burden on those best able to pay it.
Doing the right thing also means bringing to justice those who are guilty of causing the banking crisis. Last year at our Conference, I said that I expected those people found guilty of white-collar criminality to be brought to justice – and this year, my friends, I say that again. We want to tackle the problem of white-collar criminality, because there cannot be one law for the rich and one law for the poor. Or, to put it another way, one law for those in authority and one law for the less powerful and weaker elements of our society.
And that was the unequal relationship that existed between the abuser and the abused in that sordid era of our nation's history. By commissioning those ground-breaking reports, this Government has shone a light into a dark and dreadful period. And it is the view of the Green Party that we can only get closure when we get all of the answers. No institution can be above the law – and all of those people guilty of those heinous crimes against children must be brought to justice and the survivors of sexual abuse treated with compassion and respect.
There are other divisions in our country which cannot be ignored and must be addressed if we are to get this country back on its feet. One such tension is the gap between the public and private sector. The Government had to take the very difficult decision to reduce public service pay. We regret the public and media discourse surrounding those decisions. Far too often, our public servants were criticised and denigrated. Our public servants, be they teachers or nurses or guards or our civil servants, are absolutely fundamental to a functioning, well-balanced society. We took those budgetary decisions because we had to. It was the right and the responsible thing to do.
But we also want to see social partnership continue and, in my recent meeting with the Unions, that was my message. Because now, for the first time ever, we have an Environmental Pillar of Social Partnership which we introduced and which will ensure a more truly sustainable economy into the future.
I firmly hope a new model of Social Partnership can be forged, that we will have a new and more dynamic public service, where merit and hard work are rewarded, and where the pay scales are fair and proportionate, because a vibrant public sector is absolutely crucial to our economic recovery.
There are divisions, too, between the political parties, in particular between Government and Opposition in this country as is normal in an adversarial system. And I have been on both sides. Government, my friends, is the biggest reality check that anybody can ever encounter. It hits you like a sledge-hammer. Opposition is for talkers and theorists, you can have it every way.
You can cut the public service, and yet promise more guards. You can cut spending, and yet announce more programmes which increase it. You can be all things to all men and women, knowing that you are not accountable. You can coast along in your own comfort zone and feel good about yourself. Live in denial and achieve absolutely nothing.
Doing the right thing comes at a cost – the gain does come with pain, as we know. I want to know what the opposition position is on many issues; on taxation for local government, and on animal welfare.
It's all very contradictory. They say they oppose Nama. But they also say they would operate it if elected in the morning. On the banking crisis they say they would default on the senior bondholders - a barmy solution which has been criticised by garret Fitzgerald and Alan Dukes and John Bruton. All former leaders of Fine Gael.
They have had their opportunity for political reform when in Government and didn't do it. We are in Government now and we will deliver that political reform. You cannot go through a crisis by pretending it's not there – you do it by standing firm, no ducking, no diving, and by giving straight answers to straight questions.
Others can talk about political reform, and they do ad nauseam, but we will deliver it. Previous Governments have spoken about directly-elected Mayors, it never happened. But it will happen under the Green Party. They have spoken about expanding the revenue base for local government, it never happened. But it is happening under the Green Party. And we will deliver real reform of the local government structures. They have spoken about breaking the link between big business and politics, but they never delivered. We have a commitment for the first time in the history of the State of getting rid of corporate donations from Irish politics.
By the end of our term in office, we will have transformed the energy sector by concentrating on renewables, the transport sector by introducing electric cars, reformed local government and transformed the waste market by placing the emphasis on recycling and reduction. We will have introduced more equality for gay and lesbian people, protected our habitats, our landscapes. That will be our legacy.
The protests outside today confirm only one thing: that we are making a difference in government. And those on horseback and on the soapboxes should know this: your actions serve only to make us more determined than ever to make the changes that are needed.
History shows that we have outlasted all other small parties in this state. We have done that by being focused and adaptable and having real self belief. No one should ever underestimate the resilience and determination of the Green Party. We will go on. We will fight for the fairer and more equal society. We will turn it around and we will always, always do the right thing.
LEADER'S SPEECH
Waterford – 27 March 2010
Thank you, Mary. Or should I say, Minister White. The first woman TD for Carlow/Kilkenny, the first woman Minister for Carlow, the Minister for Equality, Human Rights and Integration. A Minister who will truly strive to ensure that the children and people of this country are treated equally, whether they are gay or straight, Traveller or settled, black or white. The Equality agenda is now truly in safe hands with Mary White.
My friends, Mary has been joined, as you know, this week by another Minister. The Minister for Sustainability, across three Departments, Agriculture, Transport and Planning – a man who is an expert and qualified in these fields and who has the passion and the commitment to get the job done – Minister Ciarán Cuffe.
I want to welcome two other relatively recent arrivals to our Oireachtas team – Senator Mark Dearey, a businessman from Dundalk, and the former Mayor of Galway, Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin. Both are worthy additions to Seanad Éireann, both have been shown the ropes by our experienced Chairperson, Senator Dan Boyle. Of course, Dan's first task was to show them how to use Twitter. I think they have become regular tweeters.
I welcome especially our colleagues from the North, especially Brian Wilson MLA. Our northern colleagues’ presence reminds everyone how proud we are to be a party operating in all parts of this island. This year the Green Party will contest the Westminster elections and we support our three candidates: Steven Agnew, Cadogan Enright and Adam McGibbon.
Friends,
It's great to be in Waterford at our first ever Convention in this historic and beautiful city, and my thanks to the Waterford Greens and to the Conference team for their hard work in organising this evening's event.
We are being joined this evening by many thousands of viewers during Earth Hour, a global event to celebrate and highlight the importance of climate change. To mark this event, the organisers of Earth Hour have asked us to dim the lights to publicise the event. We ask you at home to switch off any un-necessary lights at home.
Climate change, as we know, is the biggest challenge facing humanity and, as Minister for the Environment, I left the Copenhagen Summit with a sense of disappointment, but also with a reinforced sense that, in politics, change happens incrementally. And yet, right now, just over the half-way stage in Government, having achieved so much, we are on the cusp of achieving a lot more.
It requires patience, diligence and resilience – and we Greens have shown that we have those qualities. Government isn't for the faint-hearted. Yes, it's an enormous privilege, but it's also tough and gruelling, and you get results. And sometimes I am asked: "If you knew then what you know now, if you knew that the recession was going to be as tough, would you have done it? Would you have taken that fateful decision in the Mansion House to enter Government?". And my answer is clear: "yes, yes, yes".
Because we didn't enter blindly into this. Of all the parties, we knew it was not going to be plain sailing. We were the realists who knew that there were stormy waters ahead. But equally we knew that this was the opportunity to implement the policies that this country needed to get back on its feet. Policies that should have been implemented years ago, but weren't because the other political parties didn't have the political will and courage to do so. This was our opportunity to change all that – and we had to grab it with both hands.
Because, my friends, political life – like life itself – is not a dress rehearsal. We are in politics to get things done, to do the right thing and, not just to do things better than they were before, but to do things that have not been done before. And yes, there have been times when, like the Samuel Beckett character in his book The Unnamable, we have said: "I can't go on, I'll go on".
Governing during the good times can be challenging. But governing during the greatest economic that this country has ever seen, tests your mettle. We have stood solid and we have taken the blows, and suffered electoral reverses last June. We lost many great, loyal councillors. They lost, not because they were poor performers, but because they were in a Government party when it certainly was not popular to be in Government. But their loss is also the loss of the communities. People are beginning to realise that, without the Greens on the local councils, that planning problems have raised their ugly heads again.
Let me be very blunt on this point. There are councillors up and down this country who know that the new Planning Bill currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas will mean that the sort of unfettered and irresponsible rezonings that took place previously, must now come to an end. And they are trying in a last ditch effort to get through their irresponsible zoning proposals.
The Labour Party councillors have behaved, for the most part, responsibly – but not so Fine Gael councillors. Fine Gael is still receiving contributions from the developers, still rezoning, and still has not woken up to the new reality. They still believe that this sort of mad over-zoning stimulates the economy. Well, it doesn't. It is disgraceful and it is time that Enda took these guys to task and told them that enough is enough.
I know that the prospect of getting this new Planning legislation passed in the Dáil was just one of the reasons why a massive 83% of the Party adopted the renewed Programme for Government. This evening I want to thank you, the Party membership, for your unstinting support. We listened to the membership and negotiated a better Programme for Government – a Programme which is a roadmap out of this recession and takes, not an opportunistic short-term view, but a more difficult long-term view of where we want to be as a society right up to the year 2020.
Ta an Comhaontas Glas ag obair go dian chun comhoibriu a chothu sa rialtas seo. Ta na pairtithe sa foireann rialtais ag oibriu go maith lena cheile agus ag feachaint chuig na duthlain ata amach romhainn, ag diriu go hairithe ar cursai eacnamaiochta agus fostaiochta.
The Green Party, I am proud to say, identified education as fundamental to our progress as a learning and innovative society. Our aim was to protect education spending, to protect class sizes, to restore the book grant for the disadvantaged, to ensure access to university and, my friends, we succeeded. On the day we agreed the renewed Programme for Government in the RDS, I paid tribute to the work of the Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Education – and this evening I would like to do so again. Paul Gogarty's knowledge of and dedication to the education system was the driver towards that successful outcome and this evening the Green Party would like to thank him for his contribution.
Without the necessary investment in education, there can be no knowledge or smart economy. And without a strategic vision for education, all talk of the smart economy is but empty rhetoric.
Our engineers know that capital investment in infrastructure is vital. With the Green Party in Government, investment in flood protection and water infrastructure has increased against a back-drop of massive cut-backs. I am proud to tell you that we are spending more on these two issues than we did in the boom years and before we came into Government.
The €508m being spent this year on water infrastructure will create and sustain 4,000 jobs. Jobs are our priority. Green collar jobs, in a green economy. The potential in this area is simply enormous and we need to position this country to avail of those opportunities.
One man who knows this better than most is Minister Eamon Ryan. For Eamon it's not just about doing the right thing. It's about doing the bright thing.
Only yesterday, Eamon launched the new on-street charging points for the electric car. Under Eamon’s leadership the electric car will become a reality in Ireland.
His initiative has resulted in €1m per week being invested by government in insulating people’s homes. That, my friends, is showing real leadership in getting people back to work.
Friends, it is by maintaining our reputation as a clean, green country that we will sustain jobs here in the food industry. That has been the consistent message of Trevor Sargent who, as Minister for Food, was forever promoting Irish companies before he left office.
Bhi aifeala orainn nuair a bhi ar Trevor eiri as a phost mar Aire Stait sa Roinn Talamhaiochta. Dhein se ard-obair sa jab sin – rud a d’fhadmhaigh - fiu - lucht an freasura ag an am.
Every year since entering Government, I have paid tribute to Trevor at this annual Conference. But, I think we all agree, that it was the manner of his parting that said most about the character of the man. No excuses, no delays just decisive action. He is a credit to the Green Party and to Irish politics – a man who epitomises what it is to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing also means recognising the real pain that this recession is causing to young families who are finding it tough to make ends meet. They face high mortgages, negative equity, higher taxes and, in many cases, the loss of income through unemployment. I have met the wives and mothers who are distressed by financial pressure, men and women robbed of their dignity through the loss of a job, and I have seen the despair of parents who wonder if the education of their children has been a waste of time and money now that there seems to be little prospect of employment.
My message this evening to those people is one of hope and encouragement. The tough and decisive action which we have taken has sown the seeds of recovery. And that is now recognised internationally. We have cut public spending, gone after the tax exiles, and closed the tax loopholes for the rich. We have a new Governor of the Central Bank and a new Regulator from outside the jurisdiction, as we recommended. Despite the financial crisis we have maintained the budget to fight homelessness, we have closed the gap between the rich and poor by increasing taxes on the wealthy. The past two Budgets have placed the greatest burden on those best able to pay it.
Doing the right thing also means bringing to justice those who are guilty of causing the banking crisis. Last year at our Conference, I said that I expected those people found guilty of white-collar criminality to be brought to justice – and this year, my friends, I say that again. We want to tackle the problem of white-collar criminality, because there cannot be one law for the rich and one law for the poor. Or, to put it another way, one law for those in authority and one law for the less powerful and weaker elements of our society.
And that was the unequal relationship that existed between the abuser and the abused in that sordid era of our nation's history. By commissioning those ground-breaking reports, this Government has shone a light into a dark and dreadful period. And it is the view of the Green Party that we can only get closure when we get all of the answers. No institution can be above the law – and all of those people guilty of those heinous crimes against children must be brought to justice and the survivors of sexual abuse treated with compassion and respect.
There are other divisions in our country which cannot be ignored and must be addressed if we are to get this country back on its feet. One such tension is the gap between the public and private sector. The Government had to take the very difficult decision to reduce public service pay. We regret the public and media discourse surrounding those decisions. Far too often, our public servants were criticised and denigrated. Our public servants, be they teachers or nurses or guards or our civil servants, are absolutely fundamental to a functioning, well-balanced society. We took those budgetary decisions because we had to. It was the right and the responsible thing to do.
But we also want to see social partnership continue and, in my recent meeting with the Unions, that was my message. Because now, for the first time ever, we have an Environmental Pillar of Social Partnership which we introduced and which will ensure a more truly sustainable economy into the future.
I firmly hope a new model of Social Partnership can be forged, that we will have a new and more dynamic public service, where merit and hard work are rewarded, and where the pay scales are fair and proportionate, because a vibrant public sector is absolutely crucial to our economic recovery.
There are divisions, too, between the political parties, in particular between Government and Opposition in this country as is normal in an adversarial system. And I have been on both sides. Government, my friends, is the biggest reality check that anybody can ever encounter. It hits you like a sledge-hammer. Opposition is for talkers and theorists, you can have it every way.
You can cut the public service, and yet promise more guards. You can cut spending, and yet announce more programmes which increase it. You can be all things to all men and women, knowing that you are not accountable. You can coast along in your own comfort zone and feel good about yourself. Live in denial and achieve absolutely nothing.
Doing the right thing comes at a cost – the gain does come with pain, as we know. I want to know what the opposition position is on many issues; on taxation for local government, and on animal welfare.
It's all very contradictory. They say they oppose Nama. But they also say they would operate it if elected in the morning. On the banking crisis they say they would default on the senior bondholders - a barmy solution which has been criticised by garret Fitzgerald and Alan Dukes and John Bruton. All former leaders of Fine Gael.
They have had their opportunity for political reform when in Government and didn't do it. We are in Government now and we will deliver that political reform. You cannot go through a crisis by pretending it's not there – you do it by standing firm, no ducking, no diving, and by giving straight answers to straight questions.
Others can talk about political reform, and they do ad nauseam, but we will deliver it. Previous Governments have spoken about directly-elected Mayors, it never happened. But it will happen under the Green Party. They have spoken about expanding the revenue base for local government, it never happened. But it is happening under the Green Party. And we will deliver real reform of the local government structures. They have spoken about breaking the link between big business and politics, but they never delivered. We have a commitment for the first time in the history of the State of getting rid of corporate donations from Irish politics.
By the end of our term in office, we will have transformed the energy sector by concentrating on renewables, the transport sector by introducing electric cars, reformed local government and transformed the waste market by placing the emphasis on recycling and reduction. We will have introduced more equality for gay and lesbian people, protected our habitats, our landscapes. That will be our legacy.
The protests outside today confirm only one thing: that we are making a difference in government. And those on horseback and on the soapboxes should know this: your actions serve only to make us more determined than ever to make the changes that are needed.
History shows that we have outlasted all other small parties in this state. We have done that by being focused and adaptable and having real self belief. No one should ever underestimate the resilience and determination of the Green Party. We will go on. We will fight for the fairer and more equal society. We will turn it around and we will always, always do the right thing.
Ciaran Cuffe on "Tonight with Vincent Browne" (March 25th, 2010)
Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire, Ciarán Cuffe was appointed in March 2010 as Minister of State with special responsibilities for Horticulture, Sustainable Travel and Planning and Heritage.
He appeared on the "Tonight with Vincent Browne Show" on March 25th 2010.
I think he might be sorry he did.
He appeared on the "Tonight with Vincent Browne Show" on March 25th 2010.
I think he might be sorry he did.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
PoliticalWorld.org
I've just become a member of an excellent new politics discussion site PoliticalWorld.org. Well done C Flower for setting this up.
Check out the site ... become a member ... contribute!!!
It's good to get involved in politics and have an opinion on what's happening to our wonderful little country. PoliticalWorld.org is the place to do this.
Check out the site ... become a member ... contribute!!!
It's good to get involved in politics and have an opinion on what's happening to our wonderful little country. PoliticalWorld.org is the place to do this.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Bronwen Maher "Review of Fianna Fáil/Green coalition government"
Bronwen Maher has written an opinion piece on the Irish Green Party in Government for Red Pepper Magazine in the UK. The article was written late December 2009 in time for Red Pepper’s current edition.
Details of the article are on Bronwen's blog.
From the article ... "The Greens strategy has been to define the party’s policy as a narrow environmental one and appears to have ditched its equality and social justice platforms moving the party to a more centrist Green-lite position. Its minor environmental gains while admirable have been dwarfed by its support for massive bail-outs of financial institutions coupled with draconian cuts to the most vulnerable. In essence, the Greens are perceived as upholding policies that support the most culpable to the detriment of the most vulnerable."
Details of the article are on Bronwen's blog.
From the article ... "The Greens strategy has been to define the party’s policy as a narrow environmental one and appears to have ditched its equality and social justice platforms moving the party to a more centrist Green-lite position. Its minor environmental gains while admirable have been dwarfed by its support for massive bail-outs of financial institutions coupled with draconian cuts to the most vulnerable. In essence, the Greens are perceived as upholding policies that support the most culpable to the detriment of the most vulnerable."
"A remarkable change of attitude in power ..."
The Irish Times 24th March 2010 has an interesting editorial.
It sums up what the Green Party have become.
"For the Green Party, the reshuffle has seen its representation at government level increased, with the appointment of two new junior ministers; one to fill the vacancy caused by Trevor Sargent’s resignation; the other, to honour a secret commitment made in 2007 to give them an extra junior ministry at a later date. For the Greens, who contested the last election on a platform to reduce the number of senior and junior ministers by one-fifth, this represents a remarkable change of attitude in power."
It sums up what the Green Party have become.
"For the Green Party, the reshuffle has seen its representation at government level increased, with the appointment of two new junior ministers; one to fill the vacancy caused by Trevor Sargent’s resignation; the other, to honour a secret commitment made in 2007 to give them an extra junior ministry at a later date. For the Greens, who contested the last election on a platform to reduce the number of senior and junior ministers by one-fifth, this represents a remarkable change of attitude in power."
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Obama thanks Cowen for US access to Shannon
RTE.ie news on March 17th 2010 ... link ... have reported that US President Barack Obama has thanked the Irish Government for allowing US troops to stop off at Shannon Airport, following talks with the Taoiseach at the White House.
This is alse being discussed over on Politics.ie ... http://www.politics.ie/us-politics/125944-obama-thanks-cowen-us-access-shannon.html
The best post comes from He3 ... (note: text taken from PfG I and PfG II is in bold)
"Once upon a Programme for Government (original version) -
Extraordinary Rendition
The Irish Government is completely opposed to the practice of extraordinary rendition.
1. The Government will prioritise effective enforcement of a) Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act, 2000 b) The Geneva Conventions Acts 1962-1998.
To that end the Government will encourage and support An Garda Siochana in the investigation and enforcement of these Statutes. It will do so by making resources available for specialized training in the provisions of those Statutes to members of An Garda Siochána and by other means as may be required by An Garda Siochana in order to ensure effective protection for the dignity of all persons within or passing through the State.
We will ensure that all relevant legal instruments are used so that the practice of extraordinary rendition does not occur in this State in any form.
That was 2007.
In 2009 that all went in the bin and this replaced it -
Renditions
• We will review and change if necessary the legislation affecting civilian aircraft in the context of the existing and ongoing work of the Cabinet Sub Committee on Human Rights and will, as is appropriate, strengthen the powers of inspection of such aircraft and the collection of flight information.
On the tarmac at Shannon, nothing changed. The only people arrested there were people pointing out what was going on.
Nice of Obama to say thanks."
This is alse being discussed over on Politics.ie ... http://www.politics.ie/us-politics/125944-obama-thanks-cowen-us-access-shannon.html
The best post comes from He3 ... (note: text taken from PfG I and PfG II is in bold)
"Once upon a Programme for Government (original version) -
Extraordinary Rendition
The Irish Government is completely opposed to the practice of extraordinary rendition.
1. The Government will prioritise effective enforcement of a) Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act, 2000 b) The Geneva Conventions Acts 1962-1998.
To that end the Government will encourage and support An Garda Siochana in the investigation and enforcement of these Statutes. It will do so by making resources available for specialized training in the provisions of those Statutes to members of An Garda Siochána and by other means as may be required by An Garda Siochana in order to ensure effective protection for the dignity of all persons within or passing through the State.
We will ensure that all relevant legal instruments are used so that the practice of extraordinary rendition does not occur in this State in any form.
That was 2007.
In 2009 that all went in the bin and this replaced it -
Renditions
• We will review and change if necessary the legislation affecting civilian aircraft in the context of the existing and ongoing work of the Cabinet Sub Committee on Human Rights and will, as is appropriate, strengthen the powers of inspection of such aircraft and the collection of flight information.
On the tarmac at Shannon, nothing changed. The only people arrested there were people pointing out what was going on.
Nice of Obama to say thanks."
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Greens and Rotation ... A noble aspiration?
Thanks to "keyser soze" over on Politics.ie for this post http://www.politics.ie/green-party/125407-gormley-confirms-existance-rotation-green-nec-5.html#post2524555
"The Greens and Rotation, such a noble aspiration
So where to start?
Trevor Sargent went on a solo run at the party’s 2005 Annual Convention when he announced, not to the membership or to his parliamentary party, but to the media, that he would not go into Government with Fianna Fáil.
Why would a party leader make such a major statement yet leave it out of his leader’s speech? Because it was a strategic vote shoring exercise announced for purely strategic Dublin North constituency reasons.
There was consternation within the parliamentary party, of course. Gormley and Ryan knew the announcement threw a major spanner in the works. So the Greens decided to change tack, calling for a change of Government with a careful play on words. In other words, PDs out, Greens in.
Now take a look at the three amigos who negotiated the Programme for Government, Dan Boyle, devastated after losing his seat and clinging on for his political life, a career administrator General Secretary and a gagging Gormley. It was inevitable given this scenario that this trio would negotiate a weak Programme. Why? 95% of the negotiations were spent on ‘jobs for the boys’ to ensure that the parliamentary party and those closely associated with it were provided with a big pay day. Put simply, to keep all onside, it was a deal done with an ‘everyone must get something’ arrangement with the proviso that the parliamentary party ‘sell the deal’ to the membership. This they did with missionary deal.
Gormley, Sargent, Ryan, Boyle et al traded key policy positions for the spoils of office.
Now you know why White and De Burca were so eager to be their attack dogs, why Gogarty stomached massive education cuts and why Cuffe voted for the decimation of the Equality Authority, Combat Poverty Agency, the blasphemy clause etc…etc…..etc….
Sargent, of course, checkmated by his own self-seeking hasty pronouncement on FF coalition, not only co-signed the Programme with Bertie, proclaiming emotionally that it was the proudest day of his life, but was ultimately complicit in the ‘jobs for the boys’ carve-up and knowingly withheld crucial deal information from the National Executive and the party membership.
Of course, the party’s National Executive Council makes for interesting reading as so many have a conflict of interest as a board of directors charged with protecting the integrity of the organisation – Gormley, White and Boyle are members who withheld the rotation while Kearney, Nutty, Davidson and Hackett are either employed directly or indirectly or have been appointed to quangos or both.
This leaves the ruthlessly ambitious Ryan brutally exposed and who disputed suggestions that he had agreed not to contest the leadership when Sargent stepped down stating….’No, my recollection is of having a real sense of responsibility at taking on a ministerial role’. He insisted that his elevation was not part of a deal. ‘I don’t think there was any mention of that’ (Irish Times Thursday March 11th)
Meanwhile we are left with the vision of the unelected but irrepressible attention seeking twitterer Dan Boyle, running as fast as his little green legs could carry him down Molesworth Street, eager to avoid questions on the noble green principle of rotation, a principle Ryan has somehow managed to avoid."
I don't need to add anything to that as it expresses how I feel about the Green Party and their lust for office at any cost perfectly.
"The Greens and Rotation, such a noble aspiration
So where to start?
Trevor Sargent went on a solo run at the party’s 2005 Annual Convention when he announced, not to the membership or to his parliamentary party, but to the media, that he would not go into Government with Fianna Fáil.
Why would a party leader make such a major statement yet leave it out of his leader’s speech? Because it was a strategic vote shoring exercise announced for purely strategic Dublin North constituency reasons.
There was consternation within the parliamentary party, of course. Gormley and Ryan knew the announcement threw a major spanner in the works. So the Greens decided to change tack, calling for a change of Government with a careful play on words. In other words, PDs out, Greens in.
Now take a look at the three amigos who negotiated the Programme for Government, Dan Boyle, devastated after losing his seat and clinging on for his political life, a career administrator General Secretary and a gagging Gormley. It was inevitable given this scenario that this trio would negotiate a weak Programme. Why? 95% of the negotiations were spent on ‘jobs for the boys’ to ensure that the parliamentary party and those closely associated with it were provided with a big pay day. Put simply, to keep all onside, it was a deal done with an ‘everyone must get something’ arrangement with the proviso that the parliamentary party ‘sell the deal’ to the membership. This they did with missionary deal.
Gormley, Sargent, Ryan, Boyle et al traded key policy positions for the spoils of office.
Now you know why White and De Burca were so eager to be their attack dogs, why Gogarty stomached massive education cuts and why Cuffe voted for the decimation of the Equality Authority, Combat Poverty Agency, the blasphemy clause etc…etc…..etc….
Sargent, of course, checkmated by his own self-seeking hasty pronouncement on FF coalition, not only co-signed the Programme with Bertie, proclaiming emotionally that it was the proudest day of his life, but was ultimately complicit in the ‘jobs for the boys’ carve-up and knowingly withheld crucial deal information from the National Executive and the party membership.
Of course, the party’s National Executive Council makes for interesting reading as so many have a conflict of interest as a board of directors charged with protecting the integrity of the organisation – Gormley, White and Boyle are members who withheld the rotation while Kearney, Nutty, Davidson and Hackett are either employed directly or indirectly or have been appointed to quangos or both.
This leaves the ruthlessly ambitious Ryan brutally exposed and who disputed suggestions that he had agreed not to contest the leadership when Sargent stepped down stating….’No, my recollection is of having a real sense of responsibility at taking on a ministerial role’. He insisted that his elevation was not part of a deal. ‘I don’t think there was any mention of that’ (Irish Times Thursday March 11th)
Meanwhile we are left with the vision of the unelected but irrepressible attention seeking twitterer Dan Boyle, running as fast as his little green legs could carry him down Molesworth Street, eager to avoid questions on the noble green principle of rotation, a principle Ryan has somehow managed to avoid."
I don't need to add anything to that as it expresses how I feel about the Green Party and their lust for office at any cost perfectly.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
More revelations on Green Party ministerial rotation secret deal (part 2)
More on the secret Green Ministerial rotation deal from David Corcoran over on Politics.ie http://www.politics.ie/2512530-post63.html
"This weekend's Phoenix (now online for those who have a subscription) has an interesting take on this as their lead story - the rotation thing is much bigger than we might think.
- Gormley did a deal with Sargent to support him as first party leader, then tried to angle to him to get the gig in order to have a bigger profile to tackle Michael McDowell in Dublin South East
- Instead of becoming leader, he was given first dibs on any cabinet job if they got into Government
- During the FF/Grn/(PD) negotiations after the '07 election a deal was being hammered out to allow all of the Green TDs have a go at being minister, this (it's suggested by Phoenix) is to ensure no dissent by parliamentary party members when times got tough
Quote from the Phoenix article ... "Gormley’s calculation was that unless TDs Mary White, Ciaran Cuffe and Paul Gogarty were rewarded with a partial share of the spoils of office, support for coalition would be harder to sustain as the going got rougher".
- Eamon Ryan is being left alone in his cabinet job in exchange for him not challenging for the leadership"
This is almost unbelievable. The blatant deception and two faced nature of this is truly shocking (and that is saying something for the Green Party).
This raises a number of very important questions;
Eamon Ryan was either being kept in the dark about this, or he himself was lying. RTE reported that "Mr Ryan said he was not aware of any agreement reached to rotate senior ministerial posts among party members" Link. How could he not have known about this???
Is it believable that Dan Boyle and the other Green ministers knew about this but Eamon Ryan didnt? Is this the way the Greens do business? What other secret deals do we not know about?
I'm amazed that the Green grassroots are not rebelling over this. Amazed, but sadly, not surprised.
The Green Party espouse transparency, fairness and democratic decision making processes. They say these are the most important things in politics. It was Gormley himself in his famous Planet Bertie in 2007 who said "The gombeenism has to end, my friends".
Instead the gombeenism continues unabated. It's now the rule of law on Planet Gormley.
"This weekend's Phoenix (now online for those who have a subscription) has an interesting take on this as their lead story - the rotation thing is much bigger than we might think.
- Gormley did a deal with Sargent to support him as first party leader, then tried to angle to him to get the gig in order to have a bigger profile to tackle Michael McDowell in Dublin South East
- Instead of becoming leader, he was given first dibs on any cabinet job if they got into Government
- During the FF/Grn/(PD) negotiations after the '07 election a deal was being hammered out to allow all of the Green TDs have a go at being minister, this (it's suggested by Phoenix) is to ensure no dissent by parliamentary party members when times got tough
Quote from the Phoenix article ... "Gormley’s calculation was that unless TDs Mary White, Ciaran Cuffe and Paul Gogarty were rewarded with a partial share of the spoils of office, support for coalition would be harder to sustain as the going got rougher".
- Eamon Ryan is being left alone in his cabinet job in exchange for him not challenging for the leadership"
This is almost unbelievable. The blatant deception and two faced nature of this is truly shocking (and that is saying something for the Green Party).
This raises a number of very important questions;
Eamon Ryan was either being kept in the dark about this, or he himself was lying. RTE reported that "Mr Ryan said he was not aware of any agreement reached to rotate senior ministerial posts among party members" Link. How could he not have known about this???
Is it believable that Dan Boyle and the other Green ministers knew about this but Eamon Ryan didnt? Is this the way the Greens do business? What other secret deals do we not know about?
I'm amazed that the Green grassroots are not rebelling over this. Amazed, but sadly, not surprised.
The Green Party espouse transparency, fairness and democratic decision making processes. They say these are the most important things in politics. It was Gormley himself in his famous Planet Bertie in 2007 who said "The gombeenism has to end, my friends".
Instead the gombeenism continues unabated. It's now the rule of law on Planet Gormley.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
More revelations on Green Party ministerial rotation secret deal (part 1)
More on the secret ministerial hot desking deal between John Gormley and Bertie Ahern in 2007 from the Green newspaper of choice The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0306/1224265703752.html
"While the view that spending too long in ministerial office can be bad for any individual politician has some merit, using it to justify a changeover after only two and a half years is ridiculous. The fact that under the pact Eamon Ryan was scheduled to remain in Cabinet for a full five years doesn’t sit well with this supposed principle. If implemented the pact would have meant that at some point over the life of the Government all six of the party’s TDs would have held office. This and the fact that the pact was kept secret suggest baser motives. It seems Boyle elevated the rotation proposal to the level of principle so as to cloak the party’s embarrassment now that the pact has become public.
Some Green sources in recent days have even advanced the notion that a rotation of Green Ministers could be facilitated by getting a new super junior seat at Cabinet for Gormley. If they actually think this possible then the Greens are truly lost in a world of political fantasy".
The Greens are coming out of this looking very bad indeed.
The worst aspect of this dirty little deal between Gormley and Ahern is that Eamon Ryan knew nothing about it. The Green grassroots also knew nothing about this. The obvious question that must now be asked is what other dirty little deals have been made that we know nothing about?
This totally destroys the notion that the Greens are a democratic party who hold truth, honesty, and transparency in high regard. The much heralded Green notion that people are given jobs based on ability, and after a fair and transparent recruitment process is also dead. This sorry mess and the fact that Gormley has appointed over 1/3 of the Green cllrs that lost seats in the 2009 local elections to various Quangos proves this.
This whole sorry mess gives us clear sight of what the Green Party really hold in high regard. They have a become a party of secrets, dirty little deals and gombeenism. They show a raw hunger for power and its associated perks that would put FF to shame.
And the fact that they now seek to justify this is the saddest and most shameful thing of all for a once honorable party.
"While the view that spending too long in ministerial office can be bad for any individual politician has some merit, using it to justify a changeover after only two and a half years is ridiculous. The fact that under the pact Eamon Ryan was scheduled to remain in Cabinet for a full five years doesn’t sit well with this supposed principle. If implemented the pact would have meant that at some point over the life of the Government all six of the party’s TDs would have held office. This and the fact that the pact was kept secret suggest baser motives. It seems Boyle elevated the rotation proposal to the level of principle so as to cloak the party’s embarrassment now that the pact has become public.
Some Green sources in recent days have even advanced the notion that a rotation of Green Ministers could be facilitated by getting a new super junior seat at Cabinet for Gormley. If they actually think this possible then the Greens are truly lost in a world of political fantasy".
The Greens are coming out of this looking very bad indeed.
The worst aspect of this dirty little deal between Gormley and Ahern is that Eamon Ryan knew nothing about it. The Green grassroots also knew nothing about this. The obvious question that must now be asked is what other dirty little deals have been made that we know nothing about?
This totally destroys the notion that the Greens are a democratic party who hold truth, honesty, and transparency in high regard. The much heralded Green notion that people are given jobs based on ability, and after a fair and transparent recruitment process is also dead. This sorry mess and the fact that Gormley has appointed over 1/3 of the Green cllrs that lost seats in the 2009 local elections to various Quangos proves this.
This whole sorry mess gives us clear sight of what the Green Party really hold in high regard. They have a become a party of secrets, dirty little deals and gombeenism. They show a raw hunger for power and its associated perks that would put FF to shame.
And the fact that they now seek to justify this is the saddest and most shameful thing of all for a once honorable party.
Deirdre deBurca in Village Magazine - March 9th, 2010
The following are extracts from an Interview with Deirdre deBurca in Village Magazine on March 9th 2010.
"I have to admit that in my opinion – and particularly in our second year of government – weak leadership, an attachment to political office and a morbid fear of pro voking an election, has effectively paralysed our parliamentary party. Our government partners took full advantage of this situation and have managed to get us to support deci sions which I believe we should never have supported, and which possibly have inflicted irrevocable damage on our green political ‘brand’.
The Green Party began to get involved in the develop ment of policy responses to what might be called the ‘legacy’ issues of previous Fianna Fail dominated administrations. I believe that in relation to key measures that we supported in government – such as the Bank Guarantee Scheme, NAMA, and even the last two Budgets – the Green Party was only allowed by our government partners to have a rather limited impact. As a result, in my opinion, the party has found itself supporting legislation that con flicts with its fundamental principles, par ticularly in relation to NAMA.
There are many issues and policy decisions which I could highlight that I believe reflected the failure of the Green Party to properly assert its position in gov ernment. The willingness of the party to agree to allow the first, important stage of the Banking Inquiry to be held in private is in conflict with our original public call for a fully open and public inquiry. The exclusion of the establishment of the Bank Guarantee Scheme from the official remit of the bank ing inquiry was also a regrettable concession to the Fianna Fáil party.
In my experience, the Green Party has been prevented by Fianna Fáil from making a meaningful contribution to the last two bud gets. In fact we were bounced into many of the extremely unpopular measures contained within the disastrous Budget introduced at the end of 2008. This badly-planned budget saw the automatic entitlement to a medical card being removed from the over seventies, amongst other measures. My recollection of the processes surrounding the negotia tion of the budgets, is that our government partners steamrolled us into accepting the measures within those budgets without tak ing on board much of our input. Our willing ness to go along with the original reversal of the cuts to the salaries of higher-level civil servants in the most recent budget clearly conflicted with our repeated public commitments to ensuring that the better-off in soci ety bore their fair share of the burden of any necessary corrections to the government’s public expenditure bill.
There have been many other policy areas in which the Green Party has allowed Fianna Fáil to outwit and out-manoeuvre it, the orig inal vote of confidence in Minister Willie O’ Dea being the most recent. We supported enshrining the crime of blasphemy into the new Defamation legislation with Fianna Fáil’s encouragement even though we are a socially liberal party. We failed to protect the Equality infrastructure in this country from the swingeing cuts imposed by the Dept of Justice, despite our best efforts. Our attempts to influence the new Immigration, Residency and Protection Bill were largely rejected by Minister Dermot Ahern, occa sioning great annoyance in the party. Real Seanad Reform is unlikely where – given strong Fianna Fáil resistance to any serious programme of reform – John Gormley is now going to settle for a widening of the univer sity franchise (something which does not affect most Fianna Fáil senators) and possi bly minor changes in relation to the numbers on some of the vocational panels.
The reform of local government is also an area in which the Fianna Fáil party is strongly resisting Green Party policy initia tives. Despite John Gormley’s promises to transform local government – which is badly needed – there is already a revolt among Fianna Fáil backbenchers. The Civil Partnership Bill was another case in point. Under the orig inal Programme for Government, both par ties signed up to the introduction of the legis lation and the target date for its introduction was within the first year of being in office. Instead, conservative Fianna Fáil members delayed its potential passage for well over a year.
As I am now in a posi tion to reflect on the Green Party’s two-and-a-half years in government with Fianna Fáil, what is clear to me is that the balance between what the party is achieving in policy in government and what it has had to swallow from Fianna Fáil has become much too skewed in the direction of Fianna Fáil’s agenda. I do not believe it is in the Green Party’s interest to continue in government unless we can assert our selves and our agenda to a much greater extent. Our achievements in government must be weighed up against the many ‘hits’ that we have taken and the general damage that has been done to the Green Party ‘brand’. The brand reflects the popular per ception that we are not wedded to power and office like other more mainstream parties, that we are free of corporate influence and that we genuinely have the good of the community and the environment at the heart of our policies. If we continue to allow ourselves to be seen as desperate to stay in government regardless of what we have to support, the party will have to spend an awfully long time in the political wilderness before the public starts voting in numbers for Green Party candidates again. In short, unless there is a fundamental trans formation in the way that the Green Party is engaging in government, it is my considered opinion that it should pull out of government sooner rather than later."
"I have to admit that in my opinion – and particularly in our second year of government – weak leadership, an attachment to political office and a morbid fear of pro voking an election, has effectively paralysed our parliamentary party. Our government partners took full advantage of this situation and have managed to get us to support deci sions which I believe we should never have supported, and which possibly have inflicted irrevocable damage on our green political ‘brand’.
The Green Party began to get involved in the develop ment of policy responses to what might be called the ‘legacy’ issues of previous Fianna Fail dominated administrations. I believe that in relation to key measures that we supported in government – such as the Bank Guarantee Scheme, NAMA, and even the last two Budgets – the Green Party was only allowed by our government partners to have a rather limited impact. As a result, in my opinion, the party has found itself supporting legislation that con flicts with its fundamental principles, par ticularly in relation to NAMA.
There are many issues and policy decisions which I could highlight that I believe reflected the failure of the Green Party to properly assert its position in gov ernment. The willingness of the party to agree to allow the first, important stage of the Banking Inquiry to be held in private is in conflict with our original public call for a fully open and public inquiry. The exclusion of the establishment of the Bank Guarantee Scheme from the official remit of the bank ing inquiry was also a regrettable concession to the Fianna Fáil party.
In my experience, the Green Party has been prevented by Fianna Fáil from making a meaningful contribution to the last two bud gets. In fact we were bounced into many of the extremely unpopular measures contained within the disastrous Budget introduced at the end of 2008. This badly-planned budget saw the automatic entitlement to a medical card being removed from the over seventies, amongst other measures. My recollection of the processes surrounding the negotia tion of the budgets, is that our government partners steamrolled us into accepting the measures within those budgets without tak ing on board much of our input. Our willing ness to go along with the original reversal of the cuts to the salaries of higher-level civil servants in the most recent budget clearly conflicted with our repeated public commitments to ensuring that the better-off in soci ety bore their fair share of the burden of any necessary corrections to the government’s public expenditure bill.
There have been many other policy areas in which the Green Party has allowed Fianna Fáil to outwit and out-manoeuvre it, the orig inal vote of confidence in Minister Willie O’ Dea being the most recent. We supported enshrining the crime of blasphemy into the new Defamation legislation with Fianna Fáil’s encouragement even though we are a socially liberal party. We failed to protect the Equality infrastructure in this country from the swingeing cuts imposed by the Dept of Justice, despite our best efforts. Our attempts to influence the new Immigration, Residency and Protection Bill were largely rejected by Minister Dermot Ahern, occa sioning great annoyance in the party. Real Seanad Reform is unlikely where – given strong Fianna Fáil resistance to any serious programme of reform – John Gormley is now going to settle for a widening of the univer sity franchise (something which does not affect most Fianna Fáil senators) and possi bly minor changes in relation to the numbers on some of the vocational panels.
The reform of local government is also an area in which the Fianna Fáil party is strongly resisting Green Party policy initia tives. Despite John Gormley’s promises to transform local government – which is badly needed – there is already a revolt among Fianna Fáil backbenchers. The Civil Partnership Bill was another case in point. Under the orig inal Programme for Government, both par ties signed up to the introduction of the legis lation and the target date for its introduction was within the first year of being in office. Instead, conservative Fianna Fáil members delayed its potential passage for well over a year.
As I am now in a posi tion to reflect on the Green Party’s two-and-a-half years in government with Fianna Fáil, what is clear to me is that the balance between what the party is achieving in policy in government and what it has had to swallow from Fianna Fáil has become much too skewed in the direction of Fianna Fáil’s agenda. I do not believe it is in the Green Party’s interest to continue in government unless we can assert our selves and our agenda to a much greater extent. Our achievements in government must be weighed up against the many ‘hits’ that we have taken and the general damage that has been done to the Green Party ‘brand’. The brand reflects the popular per ception that we are not wedded to power and office like other more mainstream parties, that we are free of corporate influence and that we genuinely have the good of the community and the environment at the heart of our policies. If we continue to allow ourselves to be seen as desperate to stay in government regardless of what we have to support, the party will have to spend an awfully long time in the political wilderness before the public starts voting in numbers for Green Party candidates again. In short, unless there is a fundamental trans formation in the way that the Green Party is engaging in government, it is my considered opinion that it should pull out of government sooner rather than later."
Words from an ex-Green voter ...
This is from a few weeks ago but I thought it was worth including here as it says much of what I feel about the Green Party. These words are from an ex-Green voter, and are taken from a much longer thread on Politics.ie.
Link to the post is here http://www.politics.ie/2371010-post29.html
"It is the most right-wing Thatcher-style (including adopting the use of the Thatcherite mantra 'there is no alternative') government in Ireland in my living memory. So our kids will be in classrooms with a 28 pupil per teacher ratio rather than a 29 one and that justifies the collateral damage in poorer communities? Its not just the effects of single cuts but an accumulation including direct cuts in welfare, cuts to community supports including the drug task forces etc etc along with the silencing of dissent through cuts to the community-led projects (favourably reviewed in a value for money audit) and abolishing the likes of the Combat poverty agency etc.
I believe even the PDs would not have believed they would get away with the sorts of policies this government are getting away with.
Individual members of the Green Party (and their voters) are not right-wing so why are they tolerating their party participating in this right-wing dissent-crushing government?
Thats the main question I have. I thought there must have been a flowering of some new right-leaning faction in the Greens - if this isn't the case why are the Greens part of this right-wing government?
It is the reason why this long-term green voter will not be voting green again and I am ashamed that my vote has contributed to bringing in this government. If we tolerate this etc....."
Well said Mar. You have accurately described how I and many other ex-Greens feel and why we will never vote for the Green Party again.
Link to the post is here http://www.politics.ie/2371010-post29.html
"It is the most right-wing Thatcher-style (including adopting the use of the Thatcherite mantra 'there is no alternative') government in Ireland in my living memory. So our kids will be in classrooms with a 28 pupil per teacher ratio rather than a 29 one and that justifies the collateral damage in poorer communities? Its not just the effects of single cuts but an accumulation including direct cuts in welfare, cuts to community supports including the drug task forces etc etc along with the silencing of dissent through cuts to the community-led projects (favourably reviewed in a value for money audit) and abolishing the likes of the Combat poverty agency etc.
I believe even the PDs would not have believed they would get away with the sorts of policies this government are getting away with.
Individual members of the Green Party (and their voters) are not right-wing so why are they tolerating their party participating in this right-wing dissent-crushing government?
Thats the main question I have. I thought there must have been a flowering of some new right-leaning faction in the Greens - if this isn't the case why are the Greens part of this right-wing government?
It is the reason why this long-term green voter will not be voting green again and I am ashamed that my vote has contributed to bringing in this government. If we tolerate this etc....."
Well said Mar. You have accurately described how I and many other ex-Greens feel and why we will never vote for the Green Party again.
Green Vultures?
"Climate skeptics talk rubbish, except on one point, the environment can be a means to personal ends amongst those who seek to preserve not future generations but their own power and wealth.
Politics sadly attracts vultures. Vultures in an ecosystem play a vital role. Scavenging politicians who paint themselves green play no useful purpose. They threaten ecosystems by making ecology look like a vain excuse to pursue personal self-interest."
Derek Wall (refering to John Gormley), January 2010
Politics sadly attracts vultures. Vultures in an ecosystem play a vital role. Scavenging politicians who paint themselves green play no useful purpose. They threaten ecosystems by making ecology look like a vain excuse to pursue personal self-interest."
Derek Wall (refering to John Gormley), January 2010
Planet Bertie
The following is taken from a speech by John Gormley in 2007. Full text here. "We want change. Michael McDowell wants things to stay the same. The man who said 'no thanks' to one party government has now become its mainstay. As you know, Michael's popularity is soaring with Fianna Fáil voters. It doesn't matter what Bertie says or does, Michael will stick with him. The PD enforcer has become the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing desperately by his man Bertie. Michael has gone native ...more Fianna Fáil than the Fianna Fáilers themselves ... The gombeenism has to end, my friends. This is it".
Excellent speech. Makes for interesting reading.
However it's now 2010 and I have decided to re-write this speech to reflect the times we are living in.
Speech by OceanFrog, March 2010 ... "We want change. Gormley wants things to stay the same. The man who said 'no thanks' to one party government has now become its mainstay. As you know, Gormley's popularity is soaring with Fianna Fáil voters. It doesn't matter what Cowen says or does, Gormley will stick with him. The Green Party enforcer has become the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing desperately by his man Cowen. Gormley has gone native ... more Fianna Fáil than the Fianna Fáilers themselves ... The gombeenism has to end, my friends. This is it."
Excellent speech. Makes for interesting reading.
However it's now 2010 and I have decided to re-write this speech to reflect the times we are living in.
Speech by OceanFrog, March 2010 ... "We want change. Gormley wants things to stay the same. The man who said 'no thanks' to one party government has now become its mainstay. As you know, Gormley's popularity is soaring with Fianna Fáil voters. It doesn't matter what Cowen says or does, Gormley will stick with him. The Green Party enforcer has become the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing desperately by his man Cowen. Gormley has gone native ... more Fianna Fáil than the Fianna Fáilers themselves ... The gombeenism has to end, my friends. This is it."
Monday, March 08, 2010
Former Green Senator acknowledges job rotation deal
Explosive stuff from former Green party senator Deirdre De Burca here http://www.newstalk.ie/news/news-headlines/former-green-senator-acknowledges-job-rotation-deal638/
Deirdre deBurca has confirmed the existence of a deal to play musical chairs with its cabinet posts. There’s been no official comment from within the party on the plans to have John Gormley stand down as a Minister to be replaced by another parliamentary party member – most likely Ciaran Cuffe.
Ms deBurca quit the Senate and her party membership last month, citing a loss of confidence in John Gormley as leader. She says she was made aware of the ministerial rotation deal by former colleague Dan Boyle after she joined the parliamentary party.
“I was shocked to hear it, I had no idea why it had been agreed” she said. “But I have to say it was never discussed again after that – there was no reference to it of any kind in the parliamentary party during my time in the parliamentary party up until very recent months”.
Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan denied knowledge of an agreement regarding a fourth Green ministerial position made with Fianna Fáil during the Programme for Government negotiations. When asked about a possible agreement between the parties on the News at One this afternoon Mr Ryan said “nothing’s agreed as far as I’m concerned”. He said any reshuffle is “a matter for the Taoiseach and work for Minister Gormley - I’ll let them get on with it”. Source.
Whatever way you look at this it's an unholy mess for the Greens. Secret deals, one Green Minister not knowing what the other is doing, leaks, the raw pursuit of office, the vicious fight to get to the trough ... it all looks horribly sordid and amateurish. The claim that the Greens are a party who stand for transparency & honesty is now truly dead and buried. Deirdre managed to put the final nail into that particular coffin earlier today.
Deirdre deBurca has confirmed the existence of a deal to play musical chairs with its cabinet posts. There’s been no official comment from within the party on the plans to have John Gormley stand down as a Minister to be replaced by another parliamentary party member – most likely Ciaran Cuffe.
Ms deBurca quit the Senate and her party membership last month, citing a loss of confidence in John Gormley as leader. She says she was made aware of the ministerial rotation deal by former colleague Dan Boyle after she joined the parliamentary party.
“I was shocked to hear it, I had no idea why it had been agreed” she said. “But I have to say it was never discussed again after that – there was no reference to it of any kind in the parliamentary party during my time in the parliamentary party up until very recent months”.
Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan denied knowledge of an agreement regarding a fourth Green ministerial position made with Fianna Fáil during the Programme for Government negotiations. When asked about a possible agreement between the parties on the News at One this afternoon Mr Ryan said “nothing’s agreed as far as I’m concerned”. He said any reshuffle is “a matter for the Taoiseach and work for Minister Gormley - I’ll let them get on with it”. Source.
Whatever way you look at this it's an unholy mess for the Greens. Secret deals, one Green Minister not knowing what the other is doing, leaks, the raw pursuit of office, the vicious fight to get to the trough ... it all looks horribly sordid and amateurish. The claim that the Greens are a party who stand for transparency & honesty is now truly dead and buried. Deirdre managed to put the final nail into that particular coffin earlier today.
John Gormley and the Dublin Docklands Development Authorithy (DDDA) Report
Deirdre deBurca has just been talking to Eamon Keane on Newstalk 106 (8th March, 2010). She has been expressing her concerns about the DDDA report and the possibility of it not being published because it highlights FF (i.e. Brian Cowen) mismanagement.
Deirdre stated that her information about the contents of the DDDA report come from discussions she has had about the document with John Gormley himself. This is very significant, as Deirdre is saying that her info on the contents of Niamh Brennan's report comes from directly from John Gormley himself whereas Gormley has been saying the exact opposite in public. Ditto with Dan Boyle who says he does not know what is in the report but DDB says that it was discussed by the Parliamentary Party.
This is explosive stuff. It seems as though someone is lying here. Watch this space ...
Deirdre stated that her information about the contents of the DDDA report come from discussions she has had about the document with John Gormley himself. This is very significant, as Deirdre is saying that her info on the contents of Niamh Brennan's report comes from directly from John Gormley himself whereas Gormley has been saying the exact opposite in public. Ditto with Dan Boyle who says he does not know what is in the report but DDB says that it was discussed by the Parliamentary Party.
This is explosive stuff. It seems as though someone is lying here. Watch this space ...
Sunday, March 07, 2010
"The very word Green has come to mean a particularly sneaky, self-serving form of behaviour ... "
Harsh (but true) words from Gene Kerrigan in the Sunday Independent 7th March 2010 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/gene-kerrigan-blatantly-unjust-politics-takes-fun-out-of-dissent-2091284.html
"Take the Greens. Imagine if a few years back someone revealed that a cabal of Fianna Failers was secretly rigging the composition of the Cabinet. Hey -- you be minister long enough to get a pension, then I'll be minister for a while. Imagine if the configuration of the Cabinet was decided by Fianna Fail chancers in deals so secret that even members of the Cabinet seemed unaware of them.
Imagine Haughey or Ahern was caught at that. The ropey alibis and the thick mist of spin would descend on everything, and dissenting newspaper columnists would spend weeks trying to blow the fog away. Today, there's no real effort to pretend that the secret rigging of the Cabinet is anything other than what it is -- unquestionably wrong and irretrievably debased. The very word Green has come to mean a particularly sneaky, self-serving form of behaviour. And the Greens seem cool with that."
"Take the Greens. Imagine if a few years back someone revealed that a cabal of Fianna Failers was secretly rigging the composition of the Cabinet. Hey -- you be minister long enough to get a pension, then I'll be minister for a while. Imagine if the configuration of the Cabinet was decided by Fianna Fail chancers in deals so secret that even members of the Cabinet seemed unaware of them.
Imagine Haughey or Ahern was caught at that. The ropey alibis and the thick mist of spin would descend on everything, and dissenting newspaper columnists would spend weeks trying to blow the fog away. Today, there's no real effort to pretend that the secret rigging of the Cabinet is anything other than what it is -- unquestionably wrong and irretrievably debased. The very word Green has come to mean a particularly sneaky, self-serving form of behaviour. And the Greens seem cool with that."
A thousand days in, should Greens stay in government?
Interesting article from the Sunday Tribune 28th Feb 2010 http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/feb/28/a-thousand-days-in-should-greens-stay-in-governmen/
"(At the) Green party convention in Dundalk in April 2008 John Gormley outlined that his party has an "insistence on high standards in public life… We have always said that we would look after our political morality." He joked: "And it has been said that when we were faced with the choice between looking after other parties' ethics and saving the planet, we took the easier option!"
At the previous year's convention in Galway, Gormley condemned "Planet Bertie". Attacking PD leader Michael McDowell, he said: "Anything Bertie says or does, Michael will stick with him. The PD enforcer has become the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing desperately by his man Bertie.
"Michael has gone native – more Fianna Fáil than the Fianna Fáilers themselves. The Green party wants high standards in high places; not because we are particularly virtuous, but because strong ethical standards improve the quality of our democracy… With the Greens in government… we will introduce the strictest ethical standards ever seen in this country."
Fast-forward a few years to Monday, 15 February 2010. Defence minister Willie O'Dea is facing pressure to give a more detailed explanation of the sworn affidavit he made in defamation proceedings, which he later accepted was untrue.
The Greens trotted out this line: "This issue has been dealt with to the satisfaction of the court."
Clearly, before they had properly familiarised themselves with the details of the O'Dea case, the Greens were happy to trot out exactly the same government line Fianna Fáil ministers were spinning.
When Fine Gael called a motion of no confidence in O'Dea two days later, the Greens claimed they were 'bounced' into voting in support of O'Dea, and minister Eamon Ryan delivered his now infamous "as I understand it" speech.
The following day, after Dan Boyle's "I don't have confidence in him" Tweet, Gormley went to Taoiseach Brian Cowen to signal O'Dea's position was untenable.
But only three days before that, the Greens were happy to trot out the government line that the issue had been dealt with to the satisfaction of the courts. They had not even familiarised themselves with the issue but they were willing to "stand by their man". This position is not unlike, the "Tammy Wynette" scenario Gormley referred to in 2007.
His accusation that the PDs had become more Fianna Fáil than Fianna Fáil itself is also starting to ring true for his own party. Over a third of the Green councillors who lost their seats in last year's local elections have been appointed to state bodies and other plum roles by the government.
The party that has long railed against the practice of appointing party hacks to state boards is now doing the same thing. The Greens have even set up a new quango, Foras Orgánach, to develop the organic sector.
For various reasons, many Green grassroots have departed. If the party's precarious position in the opinion polls were replicated in a general election, almost none of its TDs would survive.
Over the next 1,000 days, the Greens run the risk of becoming a disgruntled group of former ministers and TDs with a fractious grassroots organisation.
To save the party, they need to choose an issue that is salient with the public and use it to leave government, finally divorcing itself from its Tammy Wynette past."
"(At the) Green party convention in Dundalk in April 2008 John Gormley outlined that his party has an "insistence on high standards in public life… We have always said that we would look after our political morality." He joked: "And it has been said that when we were faced with the choice between looking after other parties' ethics and saving the planet, we took the easier option!"
At the previous year's convention in Galway, Gormley condemned "Planet Bertie". Attacking PD leader Michael McDowell, he said: "Anything Bertie says or does, Michael will stick with him. The PD enforcer has become the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing desperately by his man Bertie.
"Michael has gone native – more Fianna Fáil than the Fianna Fáilers themselves. The Green party wants high standards in high places; not because we are particularly virtuous, but because strong ethical standards improve the quality of our democracy… With the Greens in government… we will introduce the strictest ethical standards ever seen in this country."
Fast-forward a few years to Monday, 15 February 2010. Defence minister Willie O'Dea is facing pressure to give a more detailed explanation of the sworn affidavit he made in defamation proceedings, which he later accepted was untrue.
The Greens trotted out this line: "This issue has been dealt with to the satisfaction of the court."
Clearly, before they had properly familiarised themselves with the details of the O'Dea case, the Greens were happy to trot out exactly the same government line Fianna Fáil ministers were spinning.
When Fine Gael called a motion of no confidence in O'Dea two days later, the Greens claimed they were 'bounced' into voting in support of O'Dea, and minister Eamon Ryan delivered his now infamous "as I understand it" speech.
The following day, after Dan Boyle's "I don't have confidence in him" Tweet, Gormley went to Taoiseach Brian Cowen to signal O'Dea's position was untenable.
But only three days before that, the Greens were happy to trot out the government line that the issue had been dealt with to the satisfaction of the courts. They had not even familiarised themselves with the issue but they were willing to "stand by their man". This position is not unlike, the "Tammy Wynette" scenario Gormley referred to in 2007.
His accusation that the PDs had become more Fianna Fáil than Fianna Fáil itself is also starting to ring true for his own party. Over a third of the Green councillors who lost their seats in last year's local elections have been appointed to state bodies and other plum roles by the government.
The party that has long railed against the practice of appointing party hacks to state boards is now doing the same thing. The Greens have even set up a new quango, Foras Orgánach, to develop the organic sector.
For various reasons, many Green grassroots have departed. If the party's precarious position in the opinion polls were replicated in a general election, almost none of its TDs would survive.
Over the next 1,000 days, the Greens run the risk of becoming a disgruntled group of former ministers and TDs with a fractious grassroots organisation.
To save the party, they need to choose an issue that is salient with the public and use it to leave government, finally divorcing itself from its Tammy Wynette past."
Derek Wall's blog mentions little old me!!!
Wow! A mention for my humble blog from another "true green". Derek Wall was the last Principal Male Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales, and he is a genuinely good guy.
He references my blog here http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2010/03/ocean-frog-blog-another-green-ireland.html
He says ... "OceanFrog Blog another green Ireland?
A modest contribution to recreating green politics in Ireland.
The Irish Green Party is wilting fast, sadly the culprits seem to be working themselves into a nice series of jobs, so that when the Party collapses they at least have salaries.
Given all the urgent problems we face, the actions of those in the Party have been criminal in at least a moral sense, what a time to trash green politics.
There are many good people in Ireland who want to create a green politics which is really green, I am sure the Frog blog will be a starting point for finding out more".
Cheers Derek, and keep up the good work!
He references my blog here http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2010/03/ocean-frog-blog-another-green-ireland.html
He says ... "OceanFrog Blog another green Ireland?
A modest contribution to recreating green politics in Ireland.
The Irish Green Party is wilting fast, sadly the culprits seem to be working themselves into a nice series of jobs, so that when the Party collapses they at least have salaries.
Given all the urgent problems we face, the actions of those in the Party have been criminal in at least a moral sense, what a time to trash green politics.
There are many good people in Ireland who want to create a green politics which is really green, I am sure the Frog blog will be a starting point for finding out more".
Cheers Derek, and keep up the good work!
Red-faced Greens still insist black is white... There's no limit what party will do to keep riding on Fianna Fail's coat-tails
From TimesOnline 7th March 2010 article by Liam Fay http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7052461.ece
Harsh words indeed from Fay. Unfortunately, Fay is totally correct in everything he says. This is the Irish Green Party 2010.
From the article ... "In the Green party’s debating lexicon, a salty brew of vulgar abuse and pious condescension, the most damning epithet of all is “denier”. Part knave, part fool, a denier is someone who refuses to accept the scientific evidence of man-made climate change. Confronted with the inconvenient truth, the denier averts his eyes. Incapable of arguing his case on the facts, he spoofs, he dodges, he argues black is white and, when everything else fails, he runs away.
In other words, a denier behaves exactly as Senator Dan Boyle did on Wednesday night as he left Leinster House following the Greens’ parliamentary party meeting. TV3 News’s pictures of a shame-faced Boyle fleeing from the cameras while dodging questions from reporter Stephen Murphy were as instructive as they were comical. The tweeter-in-chief had become the retreater-in-chief, his formerly uncontainable multi-media chattiness supplanted by shifty evasion and blunt stonewalling.
Boyle’s reluctance to answer straight questions about the rotating cabinet seats controversy was understandable. The revelation that in 2007, while negotiating with Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach, the Green’s parliamentary party agreed environment minister John Gormley would be replaced by backbencher Ciaran Cuffe midway through the government’s term is extremely embarrassing.
Having built their political careers on the claim that the Greens put policies before personalities, the party’s parliamentarians are now exposed as status-hungry hypocrites, for whom ministerial office is a merry-go-round on which they all feel entitled to a spin.
Viewed alongside the abandon with which Gormley and communications minister Eamon Ryan have dispensed lucrative state sinecures to Green stalwarts, the latest disclosure incinerates what’s left of the party’s pretence to be a standard-bearer for open, accountable and egalitarian politics. Even allowing for his intense discomfiture, however, Boyle lapsed into cute-hoor doublespeak with remarkable ease. Speculation about the proposed ministerial alternations had raged for days, so it was inevitable the subject would feature at Wednesday’s meeting and, as subsequent press briefings confirmed, it did.
In big ways and small, denial is now the trademark of the Greens. After TV3’s Ursula Halligan broke the story about the secret deal, party sources rubbished her report. Yet, while publicly insisting that no such deal existed, the Greens’ high command was conducting a witch-hunt to find the source of the leak.
The party’s propensity for denial is also evident in the inability of senior members to see themselves as others do. Despite the evidence that the Greens have become a wholly owned subsidiary of Fianna Fail, its parliamentarians continue to pose as conflicted sceptics.
Convinced that nothing less than the planet’s survival rests on their shoulders, the Greens are skilled at conflating their own advancement with the best interests of society. Hence the eagerness with which they concocted the ministerial rotation proposal.
Off the record, some Greens defend the wheeze as “good for democracy”. Democratic concerns were conspicuously overlooked, however, when party bosses were signing a pact with Ahern. The rotation plan is daft, of course. It reduces government to a game of musical chairs. It is Buggins’s turn politics.
What we learnt last week was significant not because it teaches us something new about the Greens, but because it highlights the extent of our ignorance about them. More opportunistic than hitherto suspected, they have not yet reached the depths to which they are prepared to stoop in order to indulge themselves in the spoils of office."
Harsh words indeed from Fay. Unfortunately, Fay is totally correct in everything he says. This is the Irish Green Party 2010.
From the article ... "In the Green party’s debating lexicon, a salty brew of vulgar abuse and pious condescension, the most damning epithet of all is “denier”. Part knave, part fool, a denier is someone who refuses to accept the scientific evidence of man-made climate change. Confronted with the inconvenient truth, the denier averts his eyes. Incapable of arguing his case on the facts, he spoofs, he dodges, he argues black is white and, when everything else fails, he runs away.
In other words, a denier behaves exactly as Senator Dan Boyle did on Wednesday night as he left Leinster House following the Greens’ parliamentary party meeting. TV3 News’s pictures of a shame-faced Boyle fleeing from the cameras while dodging questions from reporter Stephen Murphy were as instructive as they were comical. The tweeter-in-chief had become the retreater-in-chief, his formerly uncontainable multi-media chattiness supplanted by shifty evasion and blunt stonewalling.
Boyle’s reluctance to answer straight questions about the rotating cabinet seats controversy was understandable. The revelation that in 2007, while negotiating with Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach, the Green’s parliamentary party agreed environment minister John Gormley would be replaced by backbencher Ciaran Cuffe midway through the government’s term is extremely embarrassing.
Having built their political careers on the claim that the Greens put policies before personalities, the party’s parliamentarians are now exposed as status-hungry hypocrites, for whom ministerial office is a merry-go-round on which they all feel entitled to a spin.
Viewed alongside the abandon with which Gormley and communications minister Eamon Ryan have dispensed lucrative state sinecures to Green stalwarts, the latest disclosure incinerates what’s left of the party’s pretence to be a standard-bearer for open, accountable and egalitarian politics. Even allowing for his intense discomfiture, however, Boyle lapsed into cute-hoor doublespeak with remarkable ease. Speculation about the proposed ministerial alternations had raged for days, so it was inevitable the subject would feature at Wednesday’s meeting and, as subsequent press briefings confirmed, it did.
In big ways and small, denial is now the trademark of the Greens. After TV3’s Ursula Halligan broke the story about the secret deal, party sources rubbished her report. Yet, while publicly insisting that no such deal existed, the Greens’ high command was conducting a witch-hunt to find the source of the leak.
The party’s propensity for denial is also evident in the inability of senior members to see themselves as others do. Despite the evidence that the Greens have become a wholly owned subsidiary of Fianna Fail, its parliamentarians continue to pose as conflicted sceptics.
Convinced that nothing less than the planet’s survival rests on their shoulders, the Greens are skilled at conflating their own advancement with the best interests of society. Hence the eagerness with which they concocted the ministerial rotation proposal.
Off the record, some Greens defend the wheeze as “good for democracy”. Democratic concerns were conspicuously overlooked, however, when party bosses were signing a pact with Ahern. The rotation plan is daft, of course. It reduces government to a game of musical chairs. It is Buggins’s turn politics.
What we learnt last week was significant not because it teaches us something new about the Greens, but because it highlights the extent of our ignorance about them. More opportunistic than hitherto suspected, they have not yet reached the depths to which they are prepared to stoop in order to indulge themselves in the spoils of office."
Cowen snubs Greens on reshuffle
From TimesOnline March 7th 2010 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7052679.ece
The Politics.ie thread on this is here http://www.politics.ie/oireachtas/125238-cowen-snubs-greens-reshuffle.html
From the article ... "Brian Cowen is to reject the Green Party’s demand for a second junior minister in the face of growing anger among Fianna Fail backbenchers at their partners in government.
The taoiseach believes that any case the Greens had for a second post evaporated last year when five junior ministries were culled in a money-saving exercise, according to senior government sources.
He may offer his coalition partners the consolation of upgrading their junior minister to “super” status, a post that would give the party an extra voice at the cabinet table but not an extra vote.
Green TDs and senators failed to return phone calls about the reshuffle last week and a party spokesman would only say the appointment of ministers was a matter for the taoiseach.
Senior sources indicated that John Gormley, the leader, would press the party’s case with the taoiseach, arguing that an agreement for a second junior ministry was reached with Bertie Ahern, Cowen’s predecessor, in 2007, when the number of junior ministries stood at 17.
Ahern increased the number of junior posts to 20 without reference to the Greens, but Cowen cut that number to 15, under pressure from the media and his junior coalition partner, in April 2009.
“They are not going to get the second junior post because the government would fall. The Fianna Fail lads would say that is just too much,” said a senior figure last week. “The Greens have been behind a lot of the crises this government has faced because of their ineptitude. They have handled this really badly. What are they contributing except disharmony and crisis? This will not happen.”
Niall Collins, a Fianna Fail TD for Limerick West, said the taoiseach should not yield to the Green claims. “The reduction in the number of junior ministers has changed everything,” he said. “There is no case for that deal any longer. If they are insisting on one, then the taoiseach should create an extra post and not take one off a Fianna Fail minister. And they should have to make a business case for the post, establishing there is a need and reason apart from making people happy.”
Mattie McGrath, a Fianna Fail deputy from Tipperary South, said the taoiseach couldn’t possibly concede another post to the Greens. “It is a no-go area, we can’t accept it,” he said. “They did well with their six TDs when they entered coalition. They got two seniors and an important post for a junior. They have notions above their station.
“If this happens, it will just make people bitter and Fianna Fail will wonder when is a deal not a deal. I thought that they wanted to reduce the number of juniors.”
A Green party source said that Dan Boyle, the party senator who called for a reduction in junior ministers in January 2009, was simply seeking a return to the 17 posts that existed when they agreed to enter government with Fianna Fail in June 2007. But a senior Fianna Fail figure pointed out that almost half the Greens’ parliamentary party would hold ministerial office if a second junior post were granted."
The Politics.ie thread on this is here http://www.politics.ie/oireachtas/125238-cowen-snubs-greens-reshuffle.html
From the article ... "Brian Cowen is to reject the Green Party’s demand for a second junior minister in the face of growing anger among Fianna Fail backbenchers at their partners in government.
The taoiseach believes that any case the Greens had for a second post evaporated last year when five junior ministries were culled in a money-saving exercise, according to senior government sources.
He may offer his coalition partners the consolation of upgrading their junior minister to “super” status, a post that would give the party an extra voice at the cabinet table but not an extra vote.
Green TDs and senators failed to return phone calls about the reshuffle last week and a party spokesman would only say the appointment of ministers was a matter for the taoiseach.
Senior sources indicated that John Gormley, the leader, would press the party’s case with the taoiseach, arguing that an agreement for a second junior ministry was reached with Bertie Ahern, Cowen’s predecessor, in 2007, when the number of junior ministries stood at 17.
Ahern increased the number of junior posts to 20 without reference to the Greens, but Cowen cut that number to 15, under pressure from the media and his junior coalition partner, in April 2009.
“They are not going to get the second junior post because the government would fall. The Fianna Fail lads would say that is just too much,” said a senior figure last week. “The Greens have been behind a lot of the crises this government has faced because of their ineptitude. They have handled this really badly. What are they contributing except disharmony and crisis? This will not happen.”
Niall Collins, a Fianna Fail TD for Limerick West, said the taoiseach should not yield to the Green claims. “The reduction in the number of junior ministers has changed everything,” he said. “There is no case for that deal any longer. If they are insisting on one, then the taoiseach should create an extra post and not take one off a Fianna Fail minister. And they should have to make a business case for the post, establishing there is a need and reason apart from making people happy.”
Mattie McGrath, a Fianna Fail deputy from Tipperary South, said the taoiseach couldn’t possibly concede another post to the Greens. “It is a no-go area, we can’t accept it,” he said. “They did well with their six TDs when they entered coalition. They got two seniors and an important post for a junior. They have notions above their station.
“If this happens, it will just make people bitter and Fianna Fail will wonder when is a deal not a deal. I thought that they wanted to reduce the number of juniors.”
A Green party source said that Dan Boyle, the party senator who called for a reduction in junior ministers in January 2009, was simply seeking a return to the 17 posts that existed when they agreed to enter government with Fianna Fail in June 2007. But a senior Fianna Fail figure pointed out that almost half the Greens’ parliamentary party would hold ministerial office if a second junior post were granted."
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Green failures again criticised by de Búrca
From DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN in the Irish Times 6th March 2010. The article can be found here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0306/1224265705027.html
"THE GREEN party should withdraw from the coalition with Fianna Fáil “sooner rather than later”, former party senator Déirdre de Búrca has said in a further stinging critique of her former colleagues.
The party had found itself supporting legislation that “conflicts with its fundamental principles”, particularly on Nama, Ms de Búrca claimed.
The party’s failure, as she saw it, to negotiate successfully over even one of its “flagship” issues – such as the Shannon stopover, Tara or the Corrib gas project – had created “an unfortunate public perception that we were willing to trade key policy concessions for high office”.
Writing in the latest issue of Village magazine, Ms de Búrca claims the Green parliamentary party has been “effectively paralysed” by a combination of “weak leadership, an attachment to political office and a morbid fear of provoking an election”.
She resigned last month from the Seanad, where she was a Taoiseach’s nominee, over the failure of her party leadership, as she saw it, to secure an appointment for her to the cabinet of Ireland’s European commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn."
"THE GREEN party should withdraw from the coalition with Fianna Fáil “sooner rather than later”, former party senator Déirdre de Búrca has said in a further stinging critique of her former colleagues.
The party had found itself supporting legislation that “conflicts with its fundamental principles”, particularly on Nama, Ms de Búrca claimed.
The party’s failure, as she saw it, to negotiate successfully over even one of its “flagship” issues – such as the Shannon stopover, Tara or the Corrib gas project – had created “an unfortunate public perception that we were willing to trade key policy concessions for high office”.
Writing in the latest issue of Village magazine, Ms de Búrca claims the Green parliamentary party has been “effectively paralysed” by a combination of “weak leadership, an attachment to political office and a morbid fear of provoking an election”.
She resigned last month from the Seanad, where she was a Taoiseach’s nominee, over the failure of her party leadership, as she saw it, to secure an appointment for her to the cabinet of Ireland’s European commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn."
Comparison between the 2006, 2008 and 2010 EPI Indices
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically benchmarking the environmental performance of a country's policies. It makes depressing reading for Ireland. And this happened under the stewardship of the Green Party. Yet another reason to be proud of yourselves Gormley, Ryan, Boyle and co.
EPI score summary;
2006 - Rank 10 EPI 83.3
2008 - Rank 34 EPI 82.7
2010 - Rank 44 EPI 67.1
Sources as follows;
http://www.yale.edu/epi/files/2008EPI_PolicymakerSummary_final.pdf
http://epi.yale.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Performance_Index
EPI score summary;
2006 - Rank 10 EPI 83.3
2008 - Rank 34 EPI 82.7
2010 - Rank 44 EPI 67.1
Sources as follows;
http://www.yale.edu/epi/files/2008EPI_PolicymakerSummary_final.pdf
http://epi.yale.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Performance_Index
Our "private" but not "secret" Banking Inquiry
On the 20th Jan 2010 John Gormley stated in an interview with Pat Kenny and Shane Ross that the Banking Inquiry "... will not be secret, it will be held in private".
Eh, what?
Two days earlier Minister Gormley was insisting that the inquiry be "open" and public as discussed by Stephen Collins of the Irish Times here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0118/1224262565795.html
From the article ... "GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley is seeking a meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen today to discuss serious differences between the coalition parties over whether an inquiry into the banking crisis should take place in secret or in public.
Green Party Ministers are on a collision course with their coalition partners at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting if Fianna Fáil Ministers insist the inquiry should be held in private, as reports at the weekend suggested."
So what happened to change Minister Gormley and the Greens minds between the 18th and the 20th Jan 2010?
The current "private, not secret" inquiry will be a useless waste of time and money. This is what an Irish Times editorial says on 23rd Jan 2010 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0123/1224262925294.html
"The Government’s proposal for a private inquiry is a wholly inadequate response to a national banking failure that has destabilised the economy and damaged the lives, jobs and welfare of so many people. The process fails to ensure public accountability from those most responsible. Investigations conducted in private, however well handled, will neither command public trust nor help restore domestic and international confidence in bankers and the banking system."
Eh, what?
Two days earlier Minister Gormley was insisting that the inquiry be "open" and public as discussed by Stephen Collins of the Irish Times here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0118/1224262565795.html
From the article ... "GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley is seeking a meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen today to discuss serious differences between the coalition parties over whether an inquiry into the banking crisis should take place in secret or in public.
Green Party Ministers are on a collision course with their coalition partners at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting if Fianna Fáil Ministers insist the inquiry should be held in private, as reports at the weekend suggested."
So what happened to change Minister Gormley and the Greens minds between the 18th and the 20th Jan 2010?
The current "private, not secret" inquiry will be a useless waste of time and money. This is what an Irish Times editorial says on 23rd Jan 2010 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0123/1224262925294.html
"The Government’s proposal for a private inquiry is a wholly inadequate response to a national banking failure that has destabilised the economy and damaged the lives, jobs and welfare of so many people. The process fails to ensure public accountability from those most responsible. Investigations conducted in private, however well handled, will neither command public trust nor help restore domestic and international confidence in bankers and the banking system."
Trevor Sargent ... An honourable man or was his time at the trough up anyway?
Malbekh tells this perfectly on his blog http://malbekh.blogspot.com/2010/02/trevor-sargent-end-of-government-maybe.html
Over to you Malbekh ...
"Trevor Sargent - end of the government? maybe not.....
So here we are in full flow on politics.ie......
http://www.politics.ie/green-party/124396-trevor-sargent-hot-water-over-headed-notepaper-letter-garda.html
Mixed feelings here. As a previous lifelong Green supporter I've never forgiven him for going into government with FF even if he did the 'honourable' thing in resigning as leader. You see, most of the Green candates were elected on transfers from FG, Labour, SF and independent voters, if we'd seriously thought for a minute that the Greens would support the mercenaries of corruption, none of them would have been elected.
I can't help but feel however, that Sargent's attempt to influence the prosecution of the individual involved was well intentioned, out of what he and I would perceive as being a social injustice. He can't argue that he had no choice but to resign, but I actually sympathise with his position and I'm sorry that it has come to this.
How has it come to this?
The toxic horror that is the FF party is making a mockery of the Greens and everything they have previously stood for. Any Green who honestly thinks that the leaking of the letters to The Herald (of all papers - laughable) is a pure coincidence only needs to read the history books on previous FF coalitions.
This isn't funny, it's not sad, it's not a moral history lesson, it's not a parable for our children........it's a cruel, sick parody of a party that used to have a meaning and a purpose.
Of course, the main interest in this is who leaked the letters to the Evening Herald. As usual, the knee-jerk reaction was that it sounded exactly like a FF stunt.
The individual involved in the leak knows that their career, whatever their profession, is finished if their identity becomes known. Why therefore, take such a risk, particularly as the you can be certain that senior Gardaí, stung by O'Dea's accusation, will very much want to get to the bottom of this and proceed with a prosecution if applicable.
Said individual will know that as long as his identity remains intact, the suspicion of any rational person will assume that they are connected with FF.
Releasing the letters to the Evening Herald is bizarre. This would indicate that the paper was chosen because the indvidual has an acquaintance in the paper or has had some previous dealings with individual(s) in that rag.
Conclusion therefore: individual involved, angered by what had happened to O'Dea and having access to the letters - possibly from some months ago - uses the easiest and most direct option to release them.
I believe that the individual will be connected loosely to FF, I believe their identity will be known within the week, and happily, I believe the government will fall as a consequence.
O'Dea was grotesque in his actions
It's unbelievable that Sargent was be so foolish as to write those letters
The connection with the leaker will be bizarre
And the fall out for both parties will be unprecedented
Until one of the posters, lostexpectation, came up with a very plausible explanation:
could the journalist not have gotten the letter from the guy trevor tried to help, he obviously felt hard done by and had been trying to raise the matter anywhere he could, think, "contentiousness neighbour prosecuted after suffering assault!!", "you can't reprimand kids because you're afraid of the parents" but then the journalist saw another story and waiting till the case was over last week and went with the sargeant angle
Now this makes sense, it's also possible that someone with access to the letters (or copies of them) related to the constituent might have passed them on to the Gardaí. And the reasoning behind accepting this explanation goes as follows:
1. It ties in with the time line of the case
2. It explains why it was released to the Evening Herald
3. It gets around the issue as to why someone in FF would leak the letters cognisant of the allegations that would arise
4. It explains why Cowen would appear confident enough to deny the allegations
So at the moment, while I want it to be FF behind the leak or more likely someone loosely connected to FF, I'm afraid the probability is somewhat more mundane."
Over to you Malbekh ...
"Trevor Sargent - end of the government? maybe not.....
So here we are in full flow on politics.ie......
http://www.politics.ie/green-party/124396-trevor-sargent-hot-water-over-headed-notepaper-letter-garda.html
Mixed feelings here. As a previous lifelong Green supporter I've never forgiven him for going into government with FF even if he did the 'honourable' thing in resigning as leader. You see, most of the Green candates were elected on transfers from FG, Labour, SF and independent voters, if we'd seriously thought for a minute that the Greens would support the mercenaries of corruption, none of them would have been elected.
I can't help but feel however, that Sargent's attempt to influence the prosecution of the individual involved was well intentioned, out of what he and I would perceive as being a social injustice. He can't argue that he had no choice but to resign, but I actually sympathise with his position and I'm sorry that it has come to this.
How has it come to this?
The toxic horror that is the FF party is making a mockery of the Greens and everything they have previously stood for. Any Green who honestly thinks that the leaking of the letters to The Herald (of all papers - laughable) is a pure coincidence only needs to read the history books on previous FF coalitions.
This isn't funny, it's not sad, it's not a moral history lesson, it's not a parable for our children........it's a cruel, sick parody of a party that used to have a meaning and a purpose.
Of course, the main interest in this is who leaked the letters to the Evening Herald. As usual, the knee-jerk reaction was that it sounded exactly like a FF stunt.
The individual involved in the leak knows that their career, whatever their profession, is finished if their identity becomes known. Why therefore, take such a risk, particularly as the you can be certain that senior Gardaí, stung by O'Dea's accusation, will very much want to get to the bottom of this and proceed with a prosecution if applicable.
Said individual will know that as long as his identity remains intact, the suspicion of any rational person will assume that they are connected with FF.
Releasing the letters to the Evening Herald is bizarre. This would indicate that the paper was chosen because the indvidual has an acquaintance in the paper or has had some previous dealings with individual(s) in that rag.
Conclusion therefore: individual involved, angered by what had happened to O'Dea and having access to the letters - possibly from some months ago - uses the easiest and most direct option to release them.
I believe that the individual will be connected loosely to FF, I believe their identity will be known within the week, and happily, I believe the government will fall as a consequence.
O'Dea was grotesque in his actions
It's unbelievable that Sargent was be so foolish as to write those letters
The connection with the leaker will be bizarre
And the fall out for both parties will be unprecedented
Until one of the posters, lostexpectation, came up with a very plausible explanation:
could the journalist not have gotten the letter from the guy trevor tried to help, he obviously felt hard done by and had been trying to raise the matter anywhere he could, think, "contentiousness neighbour prosecuted after suffering assault!!", "you can't reprimand kids because you're afraid of the parents" but then the journalist saw another story and waiting till the case was over last week and went with the sargeant angle
Now this makes sense, it's also possible that someone with access to the letters (or copies of them) related to the constituent might have passed them on to the Gardaí. And the reasoning behind accepting this explanation goes as follows:
1. It ties in with the time line of the case
2. It explains why it was released to the Evening Herald
3. It gets around the issue as to why someone in FF would leak the letters cognisant of the allegations that would arise
4. It explains why Cowen would appear confident enough to deny the allegations
So at the moment, while I want it to be FF behind the leak or more likely someone loosely connected to FF, I'm afraid the probability is somewhat more mundane."
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