Rebuilding and Renewal

Where to begin?

We ran, we lost, and the rebuilding must now begin. Three months later I’m only just realising the pressure that we were all operating under for the last few years. It was difficult enough as a TD and as a Minister of State. I can only imagine what it was like for Eamon and John sitting at the Cabinet table.

There were also enormous pressures on our Oireachtas and head office staff who now find themselves out of work. Still, I’m relatively optimistic about the prospects for the Party in the longer term. We’ve always prided ourselves on the strong voluntary ethos of the Party. Now that will be put to the test.

There’s a great opportunity now to start afresh, with the benefit of our experience from the last thirty years, and from our four years in Government. While many of our current policies are detailed and carefully considered, they are of an era that preceded the Financial Crisis. Now we need to wipe the slate clean of policies and start afresh with just our seven principles to guide us. New policies must be crisp, clear and written in plain English. Our experience allows us to produce distinct policies that can be readily implemented the next time we’re in Government. We now need to show that we can do more with less, and ensure that the vulnerable will benefit from any changes that we propose. Environmental charges make sense, but not the flat charges for water and property that Phil Hogan appears to be currently pursuing.

The Green Party reformed planning and energy policy and has the potential to achieve so much more. We were on the cusp of changing the way politics is funded, about to restructure local government and provide a directly elected mayor for Dublin. All of that preparation can and will continue.

The Party now needs to appoint bright young voices as well as the voices of experience to speak for us. We have the luxury of time on our side to regroup before the next significant elections in three years time. We must reach out to campaigners who are fighting for causes that we’re only just beginning to understand. We can borrow from the campaigning methods of the Facebook and Twitter revolutions in the Middle East, but we must also learn from the way the GAA is grounded in our communities. We need to call up new members once they’ve joined, meet them for a coffee, and get them working on worthwhile projects. These are challenges for our new leader and a new National Executive.

I’ll still licking my wounds from electoral defeat, but I’m proud of what we achieved despite the economic tsunami that we had to deal with in Government. I’m staying involved, but I’m certainly enjoying the work life balance that I’ve discovered after twenty years as an elected representative for the Party.

And they're off

It's all about the finish line.

That pic shows one of the UpStart crews getting ready for postering on Merrion Square this evening. I like their ideas about using creative election posters to spark a debate about creativity and the value of arts in public life.

It's also all about jobs. Many of the new jobs created in last few years have stemmed from the green policies that we've introduced in Government, and we can further if we're returned to the next Dáil.

I'm told that over 6,000 contractors have registered with the Home Energy Savings Scheme. That's real jobs, right now. Much of the money taken in in the carbon levy goes right back the people through grant aid and direct support for upgrading social housing.

It makes perfect sense to do this - to tackle climate change and to reduce our dependency on the €6 Billion of oil and gas that we import every year, particularly when oil has touched $100 a barrel again. Sure, that price goes up and down, but the direction has been upward, and the more we can wean ourselves off fossil fuels, the better.

Renewable energy is another plank of the green jobs strategy. It's about more than wind, it's about ocean energy: waves, tides and currents. It's about willow and other forestry crops that can provide fuels, and an income for farmers. It's about retrofitting office-blocks, homes and schools to cut down on energy use and create jobs in doing so. Energy efficiency and insulation is at the core of all this.

It's about the digital revolution - jobs in cloud computing, and in start-ups like the Media Cube on the campus of Dún Laoghaire's Institute of Art Design and Technology. You can see it in the presence of new media firms in Ireland like Facebook, and in new initiatives in cloud computing like the work of Salesforce over in Sandyford Business Park.

It's about design - Encouraging innovation and good design can spawn innovation, creativity and new employment. That's what happened when the Kilkenny Design Workshops were set up in the 1960's. Design has contributed to Denmark's economy and identity for over a century, and it's something we should be mainstreaming as part of our economic revival. There's signs of this happening through the Government Policy on Architecture and through Dublin's bid for World Design Capital 2014. I'm also enthused by groups like Upstart that are promoting creativity through their innovative posters that we'll be seeing more of over the next few weeks. I bumped into them at Merrion Square this afternoon and they're full of ideas. Arts, culture, design and creativity are all interlinked, and my hunch is that they've a lot to offer to Ireland's recovery.

Meanwhile back in the Dáil it was a whirlwind of a day. The Taoiseach gave a speech that was suprisingly statesmanlike, and quoted some great lines from the Poet John O’Donohue that are worth repeating:

"May you be hospitable to criticism. May you never put yourself at the centre of things. May you act not from arrogance but out of service. May you work on yourself, Building up and refining the ways of your mind. May those who work for you know you see and respect them. May you learn to cultivate the art of presence In order to engage with those who meet you… May you have a mind that loves frontiers so that you can evoke the bright fields that lie beyond the view of the regular eye. May you have good friends to mirror your blind spots."

It's good advice to anyone who aspires to public life.

Enda's speech lacked gravitas, and while at pains to respect Cowen's family, failed to rise beyond the usual point-scoring. Gilmore spoke about one Ireland with some well-written words. John Gormley made a strong plea for electoral form and looked towards a reduction in the number of TDs with half being elected from a list system, which seems to work well in the New Zealand system.

After a quick coffee with Senator Mark Dearey I headed out the Rock Road to Blackrock and on towards Dún Laoghaire, getting used to a new ladder and stopping to climb a few lamp-posts, posters in hand and cable-ties between my teeth. I grabbed a slice of pizza in the office, met some of our poster crews, and headed off for a few hours canvassing, some more postering and then back home to write this.

These are busy times. Let's pace ourselves between now and the 25th February.

Water world

That's the view from the dam in Roundwood in Co. Wicklow, looking across the filter beds that supply part of Dublin's water supply. It gives you some idea of the investment required to bring clean water to your kitchen tap.There's a fine walk you take around the lake that takes a couple of hours.



For the last few years supplies have been at a knife-edge in metropolitan Dublin with engineers struggling to supply enough water to cope with the city's expansion through the boom years.


In recent weeks pipe-leaks caused by the cold weather have compunded the problem, leading to lack of supply, water off notices and low pressure around the city. In Dún Laoghaire the Council has set up an emergency blog to update users on the current difficulties, and provided water tankers to badly-hit areas.



All sorts of options are being looked at for increasing water supply to Dublin, including contentious proposals to pipe water from the Shannon or Barrow rivers. The Dublin Water Supply Project website  explores some of the options. A century of under-investment in water supply has contributed to the challenge that we face, and the City Council website gives an overview of where our water comes from. Since the Greens came into Government in 2007 John Gormley has increased the amount of investment in water services, and currently half a billion Euro is being spent per year. Apart from lack of supply, the quality issue is important, and there were significant outbreaks of Cryptosporidium around the country in recent years.


I'm not a great fan of the addition of fluoride to municipal water supplies, but many dentists say that it reduces fillings, but perhaps we should ensure that our children are consuming less sugar in the first instance. Many are concerned at the principal of mass medication, but it needs to be pointed out that adding iodine to salt has dramatically reduced the incidence of rickets. mental retardation. A study is currently planned to determine the levels of fluoride in the Irish population, and this should lead to an informed decision on the issue.



In New York City most of the municipal water flows directly from reservoirs without treatment. However over there, they have a fine history of protecting watershed from development over the last hundred years. Closer to home we have allowed significant development to take place upstream of both the Roundwood and Blessington reservoirs, both of which supply the capital with water. Perhaps a stricter planning regime would allow us to spend less on purifying and cleansing our water before it is piped into Dublin.



The new Programme for Government that the Green Party negotiated with Fianna Fáil back in October of last year contains a proposal to install water meters and charge for excessive use. Richard Tol from the ESRI believes that all water  should be charged for. Either way I believe that it makes sense to put a price on resources such as water. Naturally enough there are objections to charging for a resource that we often take for granted, and Joe has a meeting scheduled for the 13th February. Jaundiced rural dwellers will no doubt point out (as they did when waste charges were introduced) that they have been paying for water for years through their Group Water Schemes.



I feel we need to continue investment in reducing leaks throughout the system, but some sort of end of pipe charge can concentrate minds on using water resources wisely.

Pushmi-pullyu politics

The pushmi-pullyu is a mythical animal that features in Hugh Loftus's children's stories.


It is a gazelle-unicorn cross with two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. When it tries to move, both heads try to go in opposite directions. That's not unlike the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference Conference here in Copenhagen. COP15 stands for the fifteenth Conference of the Parties Parties, and the next twenty-four hours will make or break a deal.


At the Plenary this evening there were signs of optomism that may result in negotiations through the night that would push the texts along for the final work by national leaders in the morning. 


Fingers crossed.


Today I attended two sessions hosted by the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian Environmental research body. The worhshops should have taken place in the Bella Centre, but because most NGOs haven't been able to gain access, they had moved into the basement of a cafe in central Copenhagen, which gave me a chance for a brief but enjoyable walk through the city centre where I You-Tubed a few bikes.


The first session was on clean jobs - what we used to call green jobs. The speakers from India, South Africa, India and the UK showcased a report 'Low-Carbon jobs in an Inter-Connected World' published by the Global Climate Network.


The second workshop was entitled Fair Climate: US Constituencies perspectives. Gloria Reuben (aka Jeanie Boulet of ER) gave an emotional account of her visit to the coal-mining areas of West Virginia, and spoke about the lobbying power of Big Coal. Jacqueline Patterson from Women of Color United for Climate Justice ticked all the boxes, and spoke well about issues ranging from gender vulnerability to community gardening programmes in the United States. She's just back from an eight week, fifteen state  'Road Tour and Mobilization' where she heard the views and experiences of U.S. women of color in this pivotal era of climate change.  


Jerome Ringo from the Apollo Alliance spoke in words that seemed inspired by Dr. King as he stated:


"Today must be the beginning of the answer to your grandchildren when they ask you in fifteen or twenty years time,'what did you do in Copenhagen?'"


 It loses something when written down, but he spoke beautifully, and from the heart. 


John Grant from an organisation with  brilliant name - '100 Black Men of Atlanta' spoke about empowering young people and wanting his kids to be able to see the stars in a sky free from light pollution when they grew up. The speakers were strong on rhetoric, but they were a great counter-point to the dry research and turgid negotiating texts that dominate the Conference.


We went back to the Bella Centre and met Niamh Garvey from Trócaire (blogging here), John Sweeney from NUI Maynooth, Colin Roche from Oxfam and Pat Finnegan from Grian. Niamh talked about how a seventeen year old at the opening session last week talked about how negotiations had started in 1992, the year she was born, and that it was about time negotiations concluded.




We left for our train back across the bridge to Sweden where we're staying at around 11.30pm, leaving John Gormley and his staff from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to burn the midnight oil and prepare for his speech to the Environment Ministers' Plenary around 1 O'Clock in the morning. It had started snowing on the way back, and there were some very Christmassy looking bikes outside the railway Station in Malmo.  


Hopefully there'll be progress in the talks overnight. 

Can Copenhagen save the world?

"I can promise you a first class ticket to Heaven, but don't use it straight away"

That was Archbishop Tutu speaking earlier this morning making a plea for action on behalf of the most vulnerable countries that are being affected by climate change. He and Mary Robinson bookended an emotional session where we heard from citizens of Uganda, Bangladesh, Peru and Tuvalu discussing the challenges facing their countries.

Of course countries like Bangladesh have always had natural disasters that claimed lives, but climate change can increase storm surges in the Bay of Bengal that can swamp low-lying areas and kill tens of thousands. Low-lying nations like Tuvalu face increasing salinisation of farmland from storms and rising ocean levels. The guy with the hat on in the picture is Cayetano Huanca, a farmer from Peru. His village is prone to water shortages and hunger due to melting glacier. Mary Robinson pointed out that "300,000 died from the effects of climate last year."

They were speaking at an event hosted by Oxfam billed as the world's first international climate hearing at COP15 the United Nations Climate Change Conference here in Copenhagen. Thankfully I missed the eight hour queues in the freezing cold yesterday and got in early enough to catch the Oxfam hosted meeting.

I went on from there to a discussion of family planning and climate change, and met delegates from Ethiopia, the Maldives, Croatia and New Zealand. There was broad agreement that access to reliable family planning methods was the key to lifting many out of poverty.

After lunch I went on to a discussion on the 'Transition to a Green Growth Economy'. The panel included the Danish Minister of Economics and Business Affairs Lene Espersen, Nils Smedegaard Andersen from Maersk and Thomas Friedman, NY Times columnist. Thomas is trying to persuade Americans that green isn't a 'sissy' topic, and he appears to be succeeding. He said "I don't want it to be all about taxation and regulation, I want to encourage the engineers and innovators who'll help us tackle all of this."

There's 192 countries represented here this week, and the negociation gradually shifts from civil servants and scientists to the political players in this second week of the conference. I suspect the Copenhagen Conference won't save the world, but it will help focus attention on the necessity and the opportunities for change. From my perspective its an opportunity to explore the key issues and hear about the approaches that other countries are applying to the challenge.

Flooding, planning and climate change

Cold, wet and windy in Dún Laoghaire today.

That's the view looking out from the Coal Harbour in Dún Laoghaire on a blustery afternoon. At least we're fortunate enough not to be flooded, or have the roof blown off as has happened with the unfortunate residents in Carrickmines Manor on Glenamuck Road. Thankfully no-one appears to have been injured. Hazel Melbourne said she felt like she was in a scene from the Wizard of Oz when she saw the roof fly past her second floor apartment at 8.30am. according to the Irish Times website.

The floods in the south and west sound appalling. Our own home was flooded several years ago when our youngest was only a few weeks old and we had to escape over the back garden wall and pass the children to helpful Gardaí on higher ground. That brutal combination of damp, fear, destruction and uncertainty for all those affected by flooding can be soul-destroying. I'm glad to say that the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea told me today that he's instructed the Army's Chief of Staff to ensure that troops will help with the initial household clean-up as well as the emergency works prior to, and during flooding.

The National Flood Hazard mapping website was set up after the floods back in 2002 and provides information about places that are at risk from flooding. The OPW's Flooding website also contains a lot of useful information, particularly on practical information if you're currently at risk (and have access to the web).

I'm still not convinced though that there's enough joined up thinking between planning authorities and the OPW. Minister John Gormley has brought forward the draft "Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines", but the stable door had been left open long before.

There's been far too many images on the news in the last few days of recently built buildings under water. This week's floods may not be due to climate change according to Paul Cunningham's Tweet referencing UCD Professor of Meteorology Ray Bates. as the North Atlantic is apparently experiencing a cooling period. That doesn't take away the higher air temperatures that increased rainfall, though. Regardless of this week's weather, Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele's pointed out last night in his excellent EPA sponsored lecture in the Mansion House that the risk of extreme weather events is set to increase, and that's a good reason to do something about climate change. He is the Head of Climatology and Environmental Sciences, University Catholique de Louvain, and is also the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, so he should know!

IFA President Padraig Walshe has been hitting out at Government spending millions of euro on flood defences, saying the money would be bettter spent on drainage. Actually, I'd feel that more money should be spent on encouraging 'soakage', rather than drainage as this can reduce the risk of flash flooding. More forestry can also absorb high rainfall before it sluices into rivers, and that's what Trevor Sargent is working on through the new Programme for Government. One thing is certain though: the unprecedented levels of development over the last decade resulted in more concrete, tarmacadam and other impermeable land surfaces, and that has contributed to the floods.

Good planning is an important tool that can be used to tackle the increased risk of flooding, and is an issue I've raised before. It's something that our Councillors in Bray -Ciaran O'Brian, Caroline Burrell and Deirdre de Burca used to challenge the rezoning of the flood plain in Bray beside the River Dargle when a combination of councillors from Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail voted to rezone the Bray Golf Course lands. Ciaran O'Brian is currently challenging the planning application on the rezoned lands at An Bord Pleanála.

Meanwhile Bill Nolan is worried about John Gormley's plans to place a windfall tax of 80% on rezoned lands. We see it as a way of implementing the recommendations of the Kenny Report on Building land some thirty-five years after its publication. Mr. Nolan writes that that implications for the banking, property and planning industry may be far reaching. So they should be. Phil HoganTD from Fine Gael speaking at a meeting of Carlow County Council's Strategic Policy Committee has described John's proposals as "social engineering at its worst" and went on state:"I am sure the Minister means well but it reminds me of Soviet dictators."

Phil, business as usual is not an option. The laissez-faire approach that the two major parties have espoused has contributed significantly to the poor quality of development and planning that has left thousands of families flooded over the last week.

The Green Party is working hard in government to raise the bar for planning and development, and to tackle climate change. No-one ever said it would be easy.

Deireadh seachtaine maith

"Deireadh seachtaine maith?" asked the teacher as I dropped the kids into school this morning. "Go h-an mhaith!" I replied.

Looking back, there were five intense challenges over the last ten days, and we got through them all. The Lisbon vote was followed by the hiatus over the Ceann Comhairle, then came the final hours of the Programme for Government negotiation on Thursday evening and approval from the Reference Group, followed by the two crucial votes of Green Party members on Saturday - one on the Programme itself, and then one on NAMA. We got through them all.

I took this pic just after 8.30pm on Friday evening. At that stage the Green Party Reference Group and our negotiators were holed up on the third floor of Agriculture House. Mary White is in the foreground and to her left are John Gormley, Colm O Caomhanaigh, Cllr. Mark Deary, Paul Gogarty, Elizabeth Davidson, Cllr. Vincent P Martin, Roderick O'Gorman, Dan Boyle, Trevor Sargent, Andrew Murphy, Trish Forde-Brennan, Stiofain Nutty and Damian Connon. John Downing's reflection is in the window and Eamon Ryan is just out of shot. It was a crucial moment, did we have a deal or not? John Downing was counting down the minutes to the news, yet we knew that crucial parts of the small print had not been signed off on. Like any agreement there has to be trust, and we went with the line that the deal was done in time for the 9 o'clock news.

The line by line work went on until ten. At that stage the Oireachtas staff were locking us out of the third floor and we had to go up to the fifth floor to continue till near midnight in a Department of Agriculture Conference Room that Trevor allowed us to use. Stiofain then took our edits back to Government Buildings where Noel Dempsey and Eamon Ryan worked with their teams till after 7.30 am. By the end of the night Fianna Fáil and the Green Party were eventually working off a single PC on the master copy. That was followed by a logistical nightmare of trying to print 20,000 pages by 10am. Copiers in Government Buildings and Leinster House were cranked up, and someone from John Gormley's office headed down to Reads and took over four copiers. There was even someone sent out to Stillorgan to a copy shop. That's why the documentation was delayed in getting to the Convention in the RDS until after 11am. Never again! The Programme was given first directly to the members so that they could see it first-hand, rather than through the media lens. The Sunday Tribune carried criticism from eco-socialists saying we had sold out, while the Irish edition of the Sunday Times led with the line that new taxes were on the way. I guess if you're getting equal and opposite criticism when you're in Government you're probably doing OK.

Look, let's have no illusions about it all. There is an avalanche coming down the hill in the December Budget. We have committed to cut €4 billion off current spending next year, the year after and the year after that. The next few years will be tough, and as the man with the green mohawk put it: "I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

Interesting to think that facing across the table from each other at the negotiations were a business women, a former businessman and former Community Youth Worker from the Greens; and two former teachers and a lawyer from Fianna Fáil. They were well matched.

The Programme is transformational and here's a few highlights:

-we're establishing a €100m Enterprise Stabilization Fund and €200m Green Fund in AIB and BOI as well as a deposit account that will be ring-fenced for lending to Green projects. Recommendations from the Farmleigh Global Irish Forum will be implemented, as well as continuing the work laid out in the 'Building Ireland's Smart Economy' Framework;

-promotions within the Public Service will be on the basis of merit, eliminating seniority as a determining factor in public appointments. Senior appointments from Principal Officer upwards will be open to applicants from the the private and other sectors, and someone from outside the Civil Service will chair the Top Level Appointments Committee;

-limiting restrict direct political donations to political parties or candidates to individual Irish citizens and residents only and facilitate a system where donations from private bodies, including businesses and corporations, can be made to a political fund which will be distributed to political parties in accordance with their electoral performance in the previous Dáil election;

-reforming the system of expenses for members of the Oireachtas to ensure the system is transparent, vouched and open to scrutiny, including the regular publication of such expenses. This system will be verified and verifiable;

-reforming local government in Ireland to strengthen the strategic role and function of regional authorities in planning, transport, water and waste management;

-moving from taxes on labour to taxes on resources. That will include site value taxation, a carbon levy and charging for treated water, with a free basic allowance;

-spending twice as much in future on public transport projects as on roads;

-an end to stag hunting and fur farming, and the adoption of the principles and 5 freedoms set out in the Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Act;

-a Climate Change bill that will give a statutory basis to the annual carbon budget to reduce emissions by 3%;

-honouring the commitments to our children given in our 2007 Manifesto with good news on class sizes; Capitation Grants, no third level fees and a referendum on children's rights.

Sure, I'd like to see firmer time-lines and detailed costings, but often political documents are more poetry than prose. The budget will make the costings clearer. Changes in demarcation and work practices can save billions. I think it is a decent Programme, and given that we've implemented half of the original Programme for Government from when the Government was formed over two years ago, I think we should do fine.

October's been a pretty crazy month so far. Let's see how things fare between now and Christmas. As the introduction to the new Programme states:
"Teastaíonn spiorad an Mheitheal anois níos mó ná riamh. Spiorad an chomharsanacht, spiorad an chomhoibriú."

Walking in sunshine

Sixty hours until the polls open, more or less, and only mad dogs and candidates are braving the midday sun.

It's hot on the Dún Laoghaire Riviera, damn hot. Factor 50 all round this week, short-sleeved shirts, and 24 degrees in the shade. I'm avoiding the baseball cap though, as William Hague and George W. aren't exactly role models.

Broken windows, homelessness, dog dirt, selective mutism, the 45 bus. You see, and hear it all. One of the real challenges of politics is being able to absorb the extremes of views that you experience from one doorway to the next. Someone who works for Anglo-Irish tells me that he's taken to describing himself as a civil servant when people asks him what he does. Another is worried about noise from a partying neighbour.

These pix are from a few weeks ago when we had a whistle-stop tour with John Gormley and Deirdre de Burca through the Dún Laoghaire Dáil constituency. That's Cllr. Ruairí Holohan in the top photo, along with John Gormley walking on water in the middle of Dublin Bay. Deirdre de Burca, our candidate for Dublin is in the background. Karin Dubsky from Coastwatch Ireland had invited John out to Booterstown Strand to celebrate Biodiversity Day, and watch oyster spat being released.

John took a lift in Ruairí's electric Reva car to Blackrock where we chatted away to people on the Main Street before hopping on a DART to Dún Laoghaire to catch up with Cllr. Gene Feighery . We walked along Georges Street to Sandycove Glasthule, where I think we canvassed an unfortunate woman three times on the stretch of road between the Shopping Centre and the People Park. We kept passing her out and then dropping back. The good news was she started off promising us a number 3, and we got her to a number one on the basis that we'd stop tormenting her and get back on the DART, which is what we eventually did.

In Shankill we walked down to the end of Corbawn Lane to have a look at coastal erosion. The railway has had to be moved back twice in the course of the twentieth century to avoid being washed away, and yet there are still some councillors who want to rezone lands by the water's edge. Dubious rezonings have plagued Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council over the years. I was glad to see that Cllr. Tony Fox was refused a nomination from Fianna Fáil. Apparently he received money from Frank Dunlop, but I was saddened to see that he's put his name forward as an independent candidate. In Shankill our candidate is Cllr. Tom Kivlehan (pictured to my left). Tom has stood up to those who wish to rezone the lands beside Clontra House, on the water's edge.We had a mellow couple of hours listening to people's concerns as people came and went from the local Spar. The Ryan Report had just come out, and people were absorbing the horror that it documents. Perhaps some sort of Truth and Reconciliation Commission is needed to fully address the contents of the Report.


Finally a couple of recommendations: Claire Wheeler is running for the Greens in Dublin's South Inner City ward, and has a long track record in providing for communities. She's an engineer by background, and called for a clean and sparkling Dublin Bay long before many others supported the cause. I'd say give your second preference to Mannix Flynn, not for his awesome poster, but for his wealth of experience, as well as his artistic and literary integrity.

In the North Inner City, David Geary is our candidate. Dave lives in Stonybatter, and works in wind energy. I'm hoping people will give their second preference to Patrick Maphoso, who I almost persuaded to run for the Greens five years ago. It's not that often that you can someone with a strong track record with the ANC a vote!

Governance and the Citizen

It was one of those hare and the tortoise moments.

I had headed out from the Dáil to peddle up Dame Street to the 'Governance and the Citizen' conference in the Coach House behind Dublin Castle. Halfway down Dame Street I hear this loud roar behind me and a Ferrari shoots past. By the time I arrived at Dublin Castle our pal in the red car was stopped and discussing the lack of a tax or insurance disk with a guard just beside City Hall on Cork Hill. Meanwhile those of us on bicycles (and you can see Duncan Stewart on his trusty stead) arrived in good time for the Conference, although I'm sure Ferrari man perhaps had another destination in mind.

The Conference was about Dubliners and their City, and focused on new thinking on citizen engagement in the governance of cities.

Minister John Gormley discussed the options Government faces in providing a directly elected mayor, as provided for in the Programme for Government that we negotiated with Fianna Fáil almost two years ago. In late 2007 the Green Party responded to the call for submissions and put forward our model of local government reform. The Department of the Environment published their Green Paper on Local Government entitled 'Stronger Local Government Options for Change' last year, and I'm looking forward to a White Paper, followed by legislation some time this year.

I want to see a Metro-Mayor for all of Dublin, including Dún Laoghaire, Fingal, South Dublin and Dublin City. The job specification would include strategic planning for water, sewerage, transport, planning, and development. Checks and balances would be provided by the councillors' annual approval of budgets, and of course this would require that councils had greater financial autonomy from central government. If you liked the mayor's track record over five years then you'd re-elect her. If weren't impressed, she'd lose her job. Currently we have a revolving door with mayors in each council selected by their fellow councillors. They only serve a twelve month term of office, and mostly have more of a 'show up at the function' role rather than strategic leadership and direction.

Svend Auken from the Danish Social Democrats gave a great speech about the Aaurhus Convention - a document and process that increases citizens access to information and decision-making. He suggested that Dublin was the Bangkok of Europe in traffic terms, and talked about how one third of the journeys to work in Copenhagen are made by bike (and don't they know how to do it in style)! He described how the Convention is NOT a power of veto, but what it does do is empower citizens. He neatly finished his contribution by stating we must do well by doing good.

Gabriel Metcalf from the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) spoke about the future of citizenship. I've heard about their work for years, and their website looks great, but I had to high-tail it back to the Dáil for a vote at that stage and missed the other speaker's contributions. I would like to have heard Labour Councillor (and former Lord Mayor) Dermot Lacey's contribution, but I'm sure he'll pick it up in a blog alert and summarise it for me. Dublin City Manager John Tierney also spoke, and I'm sure he considered the positive potential of a mayor for all of Dublin who would give additional vision, leadership and direction to the city.

WendyLimerick on Twitter pointed me in the direction of Aodh Quinlivan's paper on 'Reconsidering Directly Elected Mayors in Ireland: Experiences from the United Kingdom and America. I'm hoping to read that this evening, before the vote on the National Pensions Reserve Fund (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009 at 10 O'Clock this evening. If you see me on the Dáil feed with my head submerged in reading, you'll know what I'm up to.

All in all, a great conference from all reports. Well done to Dave O'Gorman, Raymond Sexton, Ciaran Fallon and Geraldine Walsh for the organisation, great to have an upbeat discussion in these troubled times about the future of our city.

Green New Deal

Friday Afternoon. It's wet and cold in Poznan at the Climate Change Conference.

After a fairly turgid discussion of the need for emissions trading in the German car industry sector this morning, I headed over to listen to Al Gore. Two minutes in and I had to hightail it into a radio studio where I waited for a broadcasting slot for the last twenty minutes. Climate change was sidelined by the resignation of Niall Crowley from the Authority. I made the point on RTE Newst One that promoting and defending equality cannot be seen as a luxury to be marginalised when finances are constrained.

Meanwhile back in the Polish conference hall, it's Hamlet without the Prince. While parts of a Climate Change deal are being negotiated here, at the UNFCCC COP 14 talks, the real deal is being struck in Brussels at the Heads of State meeting. COP 14 is the fourteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and this is part of a process began in Bali a year ago that will hopefully conclude in Copenhagen in a year's time. We're also waiting to see how a new US President will tackle the issue.

There's some good news in the last half hour, a deal has been concluded in Brussels on a European package. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the deal is historic, but I've just been handed a press release from Friends of the Earth International accusing industrialised countries of failing to commit to immediate binding emission reduction targets. On the positive side of things, Europe can take credit for being (roughly speaking) the first continent to set out a clear plan for tackling high emission.

John Gormley heads up the Irish delegation in Poland. Being a Leo, his weekly horoscope courtesy of Young Friends of the Earth Europe states that "This week the stars are in a perfect position for powerful decisions which can make a real difference for future generations. The Leo should more than ever use its leadership qualities , its creativity and passion to lead the world in the right direction." Well, that's just what the John and the rest of the Irish delegates appear to have been up to for the last fortnight. Pat Finnegan from Grian wants a 30% reduction by 2020, and the Irish branch of the Friends of the Earth want climate change to be enshrined in domestic legislation. All eyes will be on the US over the next few months to see what Barack Obama can deliver.

In Ireland the next wave of economic activity can and should be in green collar jobs. Green energy, green construction, green transport - all of these can create and foster employment in sectors that have experienced a downturn. I'm hoping that this will be part of the economic plans that are under preparation by Brian Cowen. A "Green New Deal"is the obvious way to kick-start a lagging economy, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as much yesterday.

I'm heading back out to the afternoon events, now. I'm hoping to attend a talk by the 350.org group on what is required to stabilise CO2 at 350 parts per million in the Earth's atmosphere. On the way over I'll pass a great collection of stands manned by NGOs, academics, business interests and institutions. Feasta is represented by Richard Douthwaite and others with material on 'cap and share' ; the International Atomic Agency has a glossy brochure of nuclear powers station surrounded by trees, the Heinrich Boll Foundation has leaflets on the right to development in a climate constrained world, and I picked up some good background information on the UK Hadley Centre (run by the Met Office) and the UK Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, named after our own John Tyndall from Co. Carlow.

As I head in to the meeting rooms Yvo de Boer of the UNFCC has just issued a statement saying that "The European Union's climate deal sends a clear message to the negociations in Poznan and onwards to Copenhagen that difficult roadblocks can be overcome and resolved", and European Commissioner Stavros Dimas has reiterated that the EU will commit to 30% cuts by 2020 "if other developed countries make comparable reductions under the Copenhagen agreement."

Concerns about leakage from these targets remain, but for the moment there's cautious optimism in Poznan.

Spreading from the west...

'It is certainly a matter for regret that the climate of these northern regions makes it so uncomfortable to get wet and so difficult to get dry.

The clothes which the prevailing temperature compels us to wear are even in the summer of a thickness which renders them capable of absorbing a vast amount of water , and the air is of a dampness which slows up evaporation and so keeps them wet.

Not but that I think Ireland has a worse reputation as regards weather than she deserves. Rain is frequent, especially in the west, but seldom lasts long . A whole wet day is rare.'

Robert Lloyd Praeger 'The Way that I Went' 1937

...And he was someone who knew his way around the Country.

This weather...

I look out of the kitchen window every morning to see how many inches of rain there are in the wheelbarrow, just to get a steer on the day ahead. Whatever way you look at it, it is depressing. Still, it could be worse, you could be living in Carlow and find that your brand new apartment block is flooded. It was good to see John Gormley pay a visit down there today.

The new draft guidelines for planning authorities on sustainable residential development in urban areas from last February states: " ...Fundamental questions to be addressed at the outset of the planning process include: ... The avoidance of natural hazards such as flood risk, and avoidance of increased flood risk for downstream areas."

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it appears clear that more extreme weather events such as flash floods are part of what climate change may bring to Ireland. Rapid urbanisation has led to a lot more tarmacadam and concrete out there which increases the risk of flooding due to run-off from non-porous surfaces.

Flooding.ie is a font of knowledge, but I'm not quite sure if I would have the presence of mind to consult 'My Family Flood Plan' and ensure that I 'harvest any crops that can be ripened indoors, such as tomatoes' or empty any petrol lawn mowers before the water rises.

I also wouldn't be exactly comforted by clicking on the 'A flood is coming , what do I do' link and finding a page that does little more than remind me that 'Floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters.' Note to webmaster: check those links!

Floodmaps.ie is more technical, and includes mapping for your own area with local authority reports on flooding, press coverage of flooding events and even that famous photograph of Bertie NOT walking on water (under the Drumcondra 2002 section.)

Someone also suggested to me that the flooding from the Maretimo Carysfort stream in Blackrock last year came soon after the clear-felling of forestry on the side of Three Rock Mountain. There is a very detailed annotated map prepared by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council on floodmaps.ie with hand-written notes that highlight areas vulnerable to flooding, but floodmaps.ie isn't great for links. Try Blackrock, County Dublin, and open the report on 'Flood Event: Hyde Park Gardens Recurring'.

Ideally all Development Plans should be underpinned by this historical knowledge, and planning authorities should ensure that land use zoning don't allow for development on land that has been repeatedly flooded unless there are compelling reasons for doing so.

Perhaps developers should underwrite the first twenty years of flood insurance with any property that they sell. That would put manners on any cowboys that there might be out there.

Finally, some good news

Wednesday evening's vote had taken place and I'd retired to the Dáil bar for a quiet pint to consider the state of the nation with Senator Dan Boyle.

Dan held up his Blackberry as I came back from the Bar with the pints.

'Breaking News Ingrid Betancourt freed from captivity'

I couldn't believe it, and I hightailed it back to my office on the sixth floor to get out a press release. I held my breath and checked RTE, the BBC, and New York Times online. They were all running with the story, so it had to be true. Ingrid Betancourt was the Green Party candidate for president of Colombia six years ago, and we had almost lost hope that she was still alive. I had written a draft release back in January at the time of the release of her colleague Clara Rojas. This was incredible news. Then there was one other thing to do, email Anne O' Connell of the Irish Betancourt Support Group and congratulate them on not giving up hope.

By the time I got back downstairs Dan had to head out for a grilling with Vincent Browne on TV3. I told him to smile gracefully if Vincent tried his 'laughing at the interviewee' technique. When I got home the midweek movie was on, and possession being nine tenths of the law I didn't get to see how Dan fared. Today Le Monde and Le Figaro are updating the story every few minutes and it all seems like good news. I'm sure there's more to the story than meets the eye, as Michael Noonan suggested to me last night in the lift, and it seems more than coincidence that France is currently holding the European Presidency, but for the moment let's rejoice.

Statements on Climate Change in the House this morning, and I'd forgotten that John Gormley was at the European Council meeting in Paris. That meant that I had to hightail it downstairs and speak for ten minutes in what will not go down as my finest parliamentary contribution. Mind you the opposition contributors kept criticising him for not being there so at least I was able to remind them that he was tackling the issue at the heart of Europe. As far as I could make out, most contributions were along the lines of "Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity" which hardly breaks new ground given that a least a dozen politicians either came up with the phrase independently, or else did a Terence Flanagan on the issue. Even John's been caught out on that one, and it seems from the timeline that Red Ken got there first. I went for the old 'turning the supertanker around' line, which wasn't exactly that novel either.

The rain this morning didn't help , and I also understand from the spin-doctors that we're not meant to be mentioning the 'R word'. However on the brighter side of things the Green Party Staff Tag Team won last night in a game against ODSE, giants of the legal world, bringing a six week losing streak to an end.

Things are looking up.

Convention 2008

Just back from Dundalk. That's Minister Trevor Sargent, Cllr. Ciaran O'Brian who replaced Deirdre de Burca on Wicklow County Council,Kealin Ireland, myself, Martin Hogan, Claire McKeever, and Cllr. Shane Fitzgerald from Leixlip Town Council. We're sitting just outside the Convention Hall this morning. I've never been able to catch the sunshine, and listen to Convention speeches before. Cheating slightly, a bit like listening to Mass outside the church.

I was pleased with my 'Twelve Steps to reduce your carbon footprint' workshop yesterday, and I've put up a new blog with the twelve steps and some embedded video here. It still has teething problems with uploads that I'll tidy up over the next few days, but I'd welcome your comments and suggestions on it.

Had a good chat with Mick Fealty this morning about the theory and the reality of an all-Ireland Green Party. It's clear that we need to become clearer about what we can learn from, and give to each other on both sides of the border.

Last night was fascinating. I've never seen Political Correspondents hightail it out of the Conference hall during a leader's speech before, but obviously once the Chinese delegation upped and left halfway through John Gormley's speech, they knew there was a story. Hopefully that won't distract from the rest of what we were saying over the last few days.

Wow

Tuesday 6th May