Shooting Fish in a Barrel

"Tony would want us all to be mindful of the Palestinian victims of the brutal Israeli aggression . . . in Gaza."

The words of Tony Gregory's brother Noel set the tone for an amazing send-off of the TD whose office was across the corridor from mine in Leinster House. Liam Ó Maonlaí underlined Noel's words with music in St. Agatha's Church. Fr.Peter McVerry paid eloquent tribute to a fellow-campaigner, and Cllr Maureen O'Sullivan spoke passionately about Tony's many and varied interests in life.

Tony was not a man to suffer fools gladly, unlike so many of those who have occupied a Dáil seat, and I'll miss the sound of his voice in the Dáil chamber, and from the office across the way.

He understood the system backwards, and as the leader of the technical group in the Dáil (which include the Greens) for the five years between 2002 and 2007 he ensured that all of its members were well represented.

Meanwhile in Gaza the murder continues. There is evil on all sides, but the murder and bloodshed of the Israeli army over the last two weeks beggars belief. Any sense of proportion from the Israeli Government has been thrown out the window, and this is like shooting fish in a barrel; it is a bloodbath. Withdrawing the credentials of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland has been suggested, but perhaps sanctions against the State of Israel would send out a clearer message that would hurt economically.

The timing of the Green Party's members' conference and Green Economics Seminar in Liberty Hall clashed with the Palestine March in Dublin last Saturday, but I headed out early from our meeting, with some colleagues from Northern Ireland to join the start of the march outside the Central Bank. We spoke as we walked up the Quays, and agreed that the actions of the Israelis were akin to the British Army reacting to IRA attacks by taking it upon themselves to bomb all nationalist areas back into the Stone Age. The timing is so cynical, in the interregnum before Obama takes office, and in the midst of an election campaign in Israel.

Reuters reported last Friday that the US was hiring a ship to bring hundreds of tonnes of arms and ammunition to Israel from Greece, including bunker busting bombs that can blast through eight metres of reinforced concrete. The figures speak for themselves: this evening the BBC reports 910 killed in Gaza including 292 children. Israel says 13 of their citizens have been killed.

Joe Sacco's graphic novel Palestine from the early 1990s paints a vivid picture of everyday life for ordinary Palestinians. Not much changed in the years leading up to the current conflic . His perspective is miles apart from the New York Times's reporting of the conflict, and illustrates the huge difficulties that ordinary Palestinians face. Of course the appalling actions of Hamas have also led to the loss of innocent lives, and deserve condemnation, but the disproportionate response from Israel is murderous and cannot be justified.

Hopefully Tony Blair's efforts can help bring all sides to agreeing a new cease-fire, but in the meantime some form of sanctions against Israel is required.

Happy Holidays

It' s the only way to travel, when the buses are full, and the queues for car parks have your blood boiling.

I spotted this cycling Santa in the window of Mike's Bikes on Patrick Street, just down the road from my constituency office in Dun Laoghaire. Hopefully early in the new year he'll have all the elves signed up for a bike, and safety equipment courtesy of the scheme announced in Budget 2009.

Some good news and bad news to end the year.

On the negative front Pope Benedict has got himself into hot water with his statement yesterday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior being as important as saving the rain forest from destruction. Not quite the right note to kick off the season of peace and goodwill. I've issued what I can only hope is a measured response over at the Green Party site.

On a more positive note Barack Obama seems to have appointed a top-notch team of scientific advisers, and that can only be good for the rain forests, and the rest of the planet. For me the lesson from his campaign is not so much about using Gothic font and new media, but about connecting with people. In Ireland knocking on doors and public meetings are as important as always.

Grist, the online green magazine has some tips for the festive season here, and once the twelve days of Christmas are over you can find out where to recycle and dispose of your festive trimmings here.

Thanks for all you comments over the last year, particularly the constructive ones. See you all in January.


Beannachtaí na Nollag, agus Síocháin san Athbliain.

An absentee ballot for Obama

The die is cast, in my case anyway.

I posted off my absentee ballot two weeks ago, and hope that it'll get there on time.

I've read the books, 'Dreams from my Father', the 'Audacity of Hope', and I'm hoping Barack Obama gets in.

Of course I'm also hoping for good things from the US Green Party candidate Cynthia Ann McKinney and her running mate 'hip hop' Rosa Clemente, but I'm not expecting too many surprises. Ralph Nader is also on the ticket again, as Peace and Freedom Party candidate, along with running mate Matt Gonzalez from San Francisco. It's an uphill struggle, being green in a country that is dominated by two large political parties, and I can only imagine the challenge in the US.

It was interesting being in studio in RTE this morning in the presence of American economist and Obama advisor Robert Shapiro. His view is that McCain has only a 2% chance of winning. I only hope he's right, certainly Pollster.com seems to be agreeing with him this morning. He was in town for a conference on foreign direct investment in UCD , and he was upbeat that our
highly educated workforce, state of the art infrastructure (his words, not mine!) and local demand in the EU for goods from US subsidiaries here would help pull us through. McCain has been repeatedly citing Ireland's 11% Corporation tax (it's actually 12.5%) versus 37% in the US as part of his campaign, so it was reassuring to hear an economist with a Harvard PhD be so upbeat.

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I was in studio to discuss extraordinary rendition, and last week the Government set up a new Cabinet Sub-Committee to discuss, as it was rather delicately put 'Aspects of International Human Rights'. The bottom line is Gardaí on planes, and I think that is what we'll get.

One of the first pieces of paper on the desk of the winning Presidential candidate will be a letter from the Irish Government stating our opposition to extraordinary rendition, the detention facility at Guantanamo and intensive interrogation techniques such as water-boarding which are internationally considered to constitute torture. I hoping that we'll be the first European country out of the traps on that one.

There's also an intention to strengthen the legislation on search and inspection of aircraft, if required, and the Gardaí will be asked to keep the Committee briefed. In addition the Minister for Justice will update the Committee on steps taken to give effect to the Human Rights training as outlined in the Programme for Government. I'm hopeful that this represents some progress in the right direction.

My fingers are crossed for Tuesday night!

Every vote counts

Moving slowly this morning.

Myself, Senator Dan Boyle and Cllr. Tom Kivlehan ended up at the Super Tuesday Party at the Lime Bar on Georges Street in Dún Laoghaire last night, and it was after 2 by the time I left. I remember hot dogs, lots of free hot dogs. It was a good night. There was a crew from Newstalk there, as well as someone from Morning Ireland.

I met David Cochrane from Politics.ie (and failed to ask him how the new job at Libertas was working out), Jane Dillon Byrne from Labour, and lots of fellow anoraks. Given that Cllr. Cormac Devlin has a stake in the pub, it was definately an ecumenical, if not an all-Party gathering.

Dan was born in Chicago, as was my mother , so we kept a close eye on the exit polls. Needless to say Obama romped home in his own state. However I had lived in Brooklyn, New York City back in the 1980s, and I cast my New York postal ballot for Barack Obama a week ago. It ended up being a 50:49:1 split between Clinton, Obama and Edwards in the 'County of Kings', and I'd like to think my vote almost tipped the balance. I thoroughly enjoyed Obama's 'Audacity of Hope', but perhaps I simply empathised with his account of the constraints of politics.

The US Greens are still humming and hawing about their choice of candidate so I felt happy enough marking my ballot for someone who has a fairly good record on green issues, if what Grist says is true. Either way, roll on January 20th, 2009.

An evening in Kilkenny

I headed down to Kilkenny for an evening last week. That's Samantha Power giving the inaugural Hubert Butler lecture as Fintan O'Toole looks on. The talk was moved to St. Canice's Cathedral due to its popularity.

She 's currently advising Barack Obama, and having read his 'Audacity of Hope' on holidays I was looking for some insight into the state of the world, from an American perspective.

She spoke about the erosion of US influence against the backdrop of the rise of US power. She also mentioned the basic incompetence of the US in certain areas such as Hurricane Katrina, and the war in Iraq. Her scariest statistic related to the virtual absence of Arabic speakers amongst US army staff based in Iraq. She also addressed the stagnation within the UN Security Council, and the rise of the petro-authoritarian powers such as Iran, Russia and Venezuala in recent years. She discussed the American obsession with democracy as epitomised in the blue-stained fingers of those who have voted, and suggested that the 'four freedoms' of FDR were of under-estimated importance: freedom from want; freedom of worship; freedom from fear; and freedom of expression.

Barack seems to have got into trouble on the far side of the pond for suggesting that he would talk to the bad guys. Apparently this is seen a sign of weakness over there. On this island talking to the bad guys was the first step towards having a Peace Process. Mind you, I wouldn't be enamoured of Barack's apparent interest reported in the Economist this week in sending American troops in against al-Qaeda in Pakistan. It's not easy to be a presidential candidate in the US and show weakness. She ended with a discussion of Paul Cuddihy, the former Mayor of Kilkenny's apology for the City's treatment of Hubert Butler after his criticism of the Catholic Church's hierarchy for their role in the Balkans during the second World War. Cuddihy stated "I'm saying we were wrong because we were wrong." It may be some time before either Barack or others closer to home will be able to say the same about the disastrous war in Iraq. Meanwhile I'm busy reading up on where Mick Fealty feels the Green Party's foreign policy should be headed.

I'm looking forward to reading Samantha's forthcoming book about Sergio Vieira de Mello, the man who succeeded Mary Robinson as UN Commissioner for Human Rights and who was killed shortly after taking on the job of Special Representative of the Secretary in Iraq. it should make for interesting reading...