Bad Day at Blackrock

That got everyone talking.

It looked like a bomb site, but thankfully no-one was seriously injured in the explosion in Blackrock last Friday. By the time I got there, everyone had piled in to Sheehan's pub across the road and was telling each other what had happened, and where they were at the time. I met one women whose brother was walking past St. Anne's Square and was hit by a piece of rubble but luckily he wasn't badly hurt. All she heard was the bang of the explosion, and then the phone went dead. About a dozen cars got caught up in the explosion and the tow-trucks were kept busy.

Someone else told me the story of a women in the house next door who had fallen down the stairs, and had been carted off to Hospital hours BEFORE the explosion with a broken ankle. That was another lucky escape, if you could call it that. Someone else was offering lunch courtesy of the Council for anyone who was living in the Square, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few texts were sent out in a hurry, advertising free lunch in Sheehans.

I met Fr. Eric Conway on the steps outside Blackrock Church, and said to him that his boss was clearly keeping an eye on things from above. Cllr. Ruairí Holohan was talking to the head of the Residents Association, saying that it was "some Friday 13th". County Architect Andreé Dargan was trying to ensure people got back to their homes in St. Anne's Square that evening, or were at least able to retrieve their belongings. Certainly looking at the damage it appeared as though three or four of the buildings will have to be demolished. Hopefully they can rebuild and incorporate the same attention to detailing that you can see on the existing Victorian buildings. They are, or were an attractive part of Blackrock's character.

The Council sent out an update just an hour ago, and I've included it below

"Update: Explosion at house in Temple Hill, Blackrock, Dublin 5.00pm 16/3/09 - The Council can confirm that Bord Gais and An Garda Síochána have completed their initial investigations at the site in Temple Hill, and the Council is continuing with its assessment of the structures. Due to the instability of the buildings, much of the stabilising works must be done by hand. The majority of personal belongings have been removed by residents and the Council has facilitated those tenants and private householders who have been impacted by the explosion with storage facilities. Temple Hill Road remains closed to traffic and it is hoped to have a stop-and-go system in place by Wednesday.
ENDS"

Enjoy St. Patrick's Day, by the looks of things there may even be some sunshine around tomorrow for the Parade.

Towards a Green New Deal in Wexford

They'll go far.

That's a snap I took just a few minutes after John Gormley finished his speech to the Green Party's annual convention in White's hotel in Wexford last night. Leading change from within Government has been one of the key themes of the Conference.

Interestingly, for the first time I noticed that there was a fringe event for older Greens yesterday. We are getting older. I'm 45 and I joined the Party 27 years ago, when I was just out of short trousers. It's crucial that the Party continue to pass on the baton to a younger generation. There are a lot of younger candidates running in the local elections, people like Adam Douglas and Niamh Fitzgibbon. I think they'll do well. It is a real challenge though, particularly for smaller Parties to reinvent themselves and not fall into the family dynasties trap. The Progressive Democrats had their difficulties in passing the torch, and Labour will have to work hard to bring on the next generation. Dún Laoghaire continues to have its fair share of poltical dynasties, as does the current cabinet. Some politicians have succeeded in taking over the 'family seat' and creating a seperate identity to the family member who preceded them, but it's always a challenge. One analysis of George W's term in office is that he suffered from the need to finish the war his father started.

New thinking is required though to make the green recovery successful. Political parties like ourselves need to ensure that we continue to attract new ideas, and new blood to the party. We're changing the system from within, but often some of the best thinking can be found far beyond the railings of Government Buildings.

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 having a chat 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.

25May2022

Note: this post was altered on 25 May 2022 by the author in response to concerns about previous references to the driver of the Ferrari.  For the avoidance of doubt, there is no suggestion of law-breaking on anyone's part.

Masterminds at Anglo Irish bank

I must have missed it by minutes.

I had dropped the kids to school and peddled up to Stephen's Green to take a couple of picture of the front of Anglo Irish. Little did I know that the Guards were inside investigating suspected breaches of company law.

I guess you could describe it as some sort of reverse take-over when the the Guards rather than the robbers raid the bank.

The advertising in the window shows a Mastermind chair with the headline "Our chosen subject is savings". Given that the TV Quiz show's most well-known presenter was Iceland's own Magnús Magnússon I'm sure that there are some embarrassed faces in an ad agency somewhere. The small print on the Corporate logo reads "There is a difference." Damn right there is.

There's quite a few nuggets of information on Anglo's website including a Q and A on the Nationalisation process. Under the 'What triggered the nationalisation?" section (otherwise known as 'where did it all go wrong?') it states:

The funding position of Anglo ... progressively weakened over the past few weeks, and the ... unacceptable corporate governance practices that took place within Anglo ...caused serious reputational damage to the bank at a time when overall market sentiment towards it has been negative. The Government confirmed that the planned recapitalisation of Anglo announced on 21 December 2008 is not now the most appropriate and effective means to secure the bank's continued viability. Therefore, the Government decided to move to the final and decisive step of taking Anglo into public ownership.

Our Senator Dan Boyle was pretty outspoken in the Senate this afternoon. He feels that Fitzpatrick, Drumm and Bradshaw should be suspended until the investigations by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Financial Regulator have come to conclusion.

I had gone up to take a pic of Anglo to illustrate one of the few silver linings that might present itself to the side of the current dark cloud: Presumably much of Anglo's debt is tied to defaulting developers who have over-stretched themselves on land acquisition. If this is carefully handled it could allow the state to acquire significant land holdings that could be used to meet social housing and affordable housing demand for years to come.

Meanwhile, the lobbyists prowl the corridors of Leinster House. Tom Cullen from the SIMI seems to have spent the last two weeks drinking coffee with Fianna Fail back-benchers. He even claims that the Department of Finance now believe that a car scrappage scheme stacks up to create jobs. I'm not convinced. Our car fleet is young compared to the rest of Europe, and around half the carbon cost of a car is in its manufacture. I'm waiting for Tom to give me the figures.

The new president of the Construction Industry Federation Andy O'Gorman graces the cover of their official magazine of the Construction Industry Federation. He is straight up about his message: "We need effective lobbying to secure a commitment to continue the roads programme" he states. But what about the Metro, Andy? That could create 4,000 construction jobs.

My rant of the day is reserved for David Baddeley from Volvo Ireland. In his article in the Irish Times Motors supplement he believes that "Buying a car might actually put some people in a better financial position". This follows on from a paragraph where he states that buying payment protection insurance can address any concerns about possible redundancy. Have we learnt nothing from the boom? These type of advertorials in the motoring supplements mirror the excesses of the property supplements from the boom years that included ads for housing in Gorey Co. Wexford describing their developments as being within easy rail commuting distance of Dublin even when the first train didn't arrive in to Dublin till half ten.

My advice? Spend your money wisely. I'm banking on insulation. With the new grants coming on stream you can have a warmer home and reduce your fuel bills. There's also thousands of jobs, and a lot less carbon as the scheme is rolled out. My overview of the grants scheme is here.

Good luck with your spending!