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The Green Party, Boyle expeditions, Snip and Taking a Stand
Read more about: Coalition, Comment, Fianna Fail, Government, Green Party, Irish Politics 
Dan Boyle was on point duty for the Greens once again yesterday. Himself and his party colleague in the Seanad, Deirdre De Burca voted against the Government move to guillotine the final stage of the Criminal Justice Act last night. How very noble of them.
Then Boyle, a senator – i.e. someone the general public doesn’t really know about, but a senior figure in the eyes of party members – went looking for the media to give the impression that the Greens were somehow still relevant in Government. He insisted, as reported by The Irish Times, that the move – the first time the Greens have voted against Government since going into coalition with Fianna Fáil – had nothing to do with the fact that his party has a very important members’ meeting this Saturday.
By the way, that’s a meeting where the opinion held by many politicos – that the Greens have been subsumed into Fianna Fáil over the last two years – will undoubtedly be voiced many times by the growing percentage of party members who are embarrassed by their relationship with their coalition partners. But no, Boyle and DeBurca didn’t vote against the Government for the first time just so they can say that they did to their irate members on Saturday. Oh no, Boyle and DeBurca’s sudden onset of independent thought, which was undoubtedly rubber-stamped by the rest of the parliamentary party, had nothing to do with that. Never.
The two mavericks then took it a step further, abstaining – that’s right, abstaining, the wild-things – on the final vote. But of course, that didn’t matter a damn because Fine Gael, as everybody knew, were in full support of the bill so it sailed through 35 votes to 7 even without Boyle and DeBurca. But abstaining, of course, could give the party’s senior ranks some semblance of a leg to stand on when a livid grassroots member takes them on come Saturday… they hope.
The fact of the matter is – the Greens need to grow a pair. Relationship-wise, they are more whipped than the combined population of every little area outside the changing rooms of all the Ms Selfridges and Topshops in the country. Yesterday’s vote by Boyle and DeBurca was the political equivalent of a guy who has been told by all his mates that he is under-the-thumb going out with lads but spending the night texting the missus. It means that in the near future they can tell their mates – the members – they were out in the pub, but they don’t get in any real trouble with the girlfriend – Fianna Fáil. They know this too, hence Boyle and DeBurca’s newly independent thought process. If the Greens were really going to take a stand, why didn’t they do it in the Dáil? Why didn’t they do it on, well… the majority of issues listed on their 2007 General Election manifesto. Tara, Corrib, Shannon, landfills, incinerators. No, actually, that’s in the past, why didn’t they do it more recently on the blasphemy bill, gay marriage – and now they’re lining up a u-turn on third-level fees, where do they draw the line? How can any coalition partner claim they’ve a say in what’s happening at cabinet when a journalist can open an article with this sentence, and be correct…
EXTRA TIME should be given for Dáil debate of tough new powers to be given to the Garda Síochána and Director of Public Prosecutions, the Green Party has said. But it will not insist that Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern complies.
It’s quite literally laughable.
With the An Bord Snip report out tomorrow you have to ask on what issue will the Greens take a stand? Where will we say, “if you implement that then you can stop the train, we’re getting off”? When will they realise that sometimes relationships aren’t healthy? Sometimes the break-up is tough, you might miss the feeling of being all cuddly-wuddly in the short-term but it’s far better for you in the long term.
These Boyle expeditions are getting tiresome. If they think they can fool their membership with tokenistic rebellious votes they’re very wrong. Saturday will be a big day – but how the parliamentary party decides to react to Fianna Fáil’s interpretation of Snip will be far more important. The parl-party’s take on Snip will have an impact on whether of not there is a healthy future for the party as a whole and whether there is a healthy future for the coalition. Two futures which in recent times are looking more and more mutually exclusive.
Workers Party, New Agenda, anybody?
The Greens don’t know the difference between a stand and a lie down.
Firstly, Mark. I am disappointed that you’ve gone in for the easy clichés usually trotted out by party or special interest hacks who’ve never given the greens more than a fifth preference. Normally your analysis is more nuanced, and, in my opinion accurate.
“If they think they can fool their membership…”
Well, let me stop you there. I know that you’re not amongst the Green Party membership. I also know that Dan, Deirdre and the rest of the parliamentary party are in much closer contact with the party members – including in phone contact with nearly every single member ahead of our conference this weekend – than are you, or any of the various other commentators who claim to know how let down or pissed off, or whatever else green party members are.
“If the Greens were really going to take a stand, why didn’t they do it in the Dáil? Why didn’t they do it on, well… the majority of issues listed on their 2007 General Election manifesto. Tara, Corrib, Shannon, landfills, incinerators. No, actually, that’s in the past, why didn’t they do it more recently on the blasphemy bill, gay marriage…”
It’s really disappointing that you are following Joanna Tuffy and Joe Higgins’s talking points on this, rather that attempting any sort of obligation to report accurately.
Here are the links from which I base my statements: http://www.greenparty.ie/en/about/party_archives/election_2007/manifesto_2007/manifesto and http://www.greenparty.ie/index.php/en/government/agreed_programme_for_government.
Fact 1: There is nothing about Tara or the M3 in our 2007 manifesto.
Fact 2: There is nothing about Corrib in our 2007 manifesto.
Fact 3: Our manifesto does say that we will phase out existing landfills, continue to oppose incineration of municipal waste, and actively seek alternatives to the incineration of toxic and hazardous waste.
This is precisely what we have done. Since taking office John Gormley has started a review of waste management policy to ensure a shift away from incineration. That review will conclude this year. In advance of its conclusion John has started a strategic environmental assessment on options including a policy to restrict local authorities from directing waste to incinerators or landfill, where that waste could be recycled or pre-treated. He is also examining whether Ireland can place specific caps on the amount of waste that can be incinerated and is due, in the near future, to bring proposals to Government on the implementation of a new waste levy scheme, aiming to underpin efforts at recycling and reduction. Finally, he has advised all local authorities involved in waste infrastructure development that it would be prudent from them to take these developments into account in relation to any projects they are planning.
He has, in two years, worked assiduously to undo a generation of national and local government decisions that promote incineration and landfill. He has delivered on this policy point, and he will deliver more. The glib swipes that emanate from the benches of the labour and fine gael parties – both of whom have ACTIVELY supported incineration at local, national and European political levels – are totally baseless and opportunistic.
Fact 4: Our 2007 Manifesto said that we would seek legislative changes to “allow same-sex couples enjoy the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage”; “recommend the creation of a new category of ‘civil partnership’ [...] available to both heterosexual and same-sex couples”; and “increase protections for unregistered cohabiting couples.” The recent civil partnerships legislation does that. Gay Marriage is Green Party policy. It’s what we want, and it’s what we will push for. Civil Partnerships is an important first step towards this.
Fact 5: Our manifesto says that we will seek to “end the use of Shannon Airport by US military forces involved in the war in Iraq; [and] insist that any aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal movements of prisoners must be searched.”
After spending much political capital in negotiations, we didn’t get a whole lot into the Programme for Government, but we got this: a commitment for the Government to prioritise effective enforcement of the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act and the Geneva Conventions by encouraging and supporting An Garda Siochana in the investigation and enforcement of these Statutes, specifically by making resources available for specialized training and by other means in order to ensure effective protection for the dignity of all persons within or passing through the State.
This was acted upon in November 2008. See: http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/green_party_welcomes_govt_moves_on_rendition.
Are there high profile Garda swoops on jets coming through Shannon with suspicious tail numbers? No, not yet. But we’re getting there.
Should we have brought down the Government over blasphemy because we disagreed with Dermot Ahern? Well, no. Not a lot of our members or supporters would thank us for doing that. Nor, I think, would the country – or indeed the bond markets whom are keeping our economy afloat.
If you want to get a sense of what are our priorities – rather than recycling worn out clichés put about by political opponents – think climate change, public transport, and planning and political reform.
And then there’s education…
The most difficult thing for us to swallow over the last two years has been the education cutbacks. In 2007, we wanted to invest €1bn per year extra in education. Clearly that can’t happen now.
Free from the blindspot that Labour’s union links induces in that party, many of our members see plenty of scope for doing more with less – especially given the huge rises in spending that have gone into schools over recent years, and the relatively comfortable existence of many employed within the education sector.
But some of the cuts already introduced – and certainly those proposed by McCarthy’s crew – are real problems for very many greens. Education, rather than the M3 is what I expect will animate our members this weekend.
Firstly, Mark. I am disappointed that you’ve gone in for the easy clichés usually trotted out by party or special interest hacks who’ve never given the greens more than a fifth preference. Normally your analysis is more nuanced, and, in my opinion accurate. – Perhaps this is no more than the Greens deserve, in fact it is no more that you deserve and redirecting people to the Green Party website well … easy clichés….
oh and for spineless nothing beats – EXTRA TIME should be given for Dáil debate of tough new powers to be given to the Garda Síochána and Director of Public Prosecutions, the Green Party has said. But it will not insist that Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern complies.
Laura,
In fairness, I think Damien is perfectly right to link to the website if it he wants to support his argument.
Damien,
I’m also in regular contact with a number of Green members, admittedly not to the same degree as the two senators, but also, and importantly – not in the same way. The relationship between a party member and senior party figure is not the same as a party member and a journalist/commentator. It’s human instinct to be polite to someone when you’re talking about them, to them…
It certainly wasn’t a notably united party at the party conference in Whites, things have gone further south since then I’m sure you’ll agree, you’re hardly claiming it’s going to be jolly hockeysticks come Saturday. I specifically remember the hisses that came from the areas of the audience on the mention of Fianna Fáil in Whites – and that wasn’t only from the McKenna camp. Saturday will be worse, are you saying it won’t?
Re: Tara, Corrib, Shannon – I didn’t say it was in your manifesto, there’s a full stop in there. You hardly want to bring manifestos into this properly do you? VAT, PRSI, medical cards for under 6s… I’m saying Tara, Corrib and Shannon were issues you had a stance on and built a lot of support on before you went in with FF, then your position changed. Re: Landfills, you said they would be phased out for “cleanfills”, that was two years ago. Dublin is set for a new landfill next year according to a new proposal from Fingal, and it’s not alone as far as I know, landfills don’t shut-up-shop after five years, this is long-term. Admittedly Gormley has worked hard on incinerators – but if memory serves we’re still going to be seeing new sites in Cork and Dublin soon.
Fact 4: “A first step”… see title of the post.
Fact 5: You say you “didn’t get a whole lot” then quote a lump of spin that says nothing, quite literally nothing, concrete. You know as well as I do that “encouraging and supporting Gardai” is the type of phraseology used when something needs to be said but there’s nothing worth saying. Lets be straight here, “a whole lot” is an overstatement.
And finally, you say “education, rather than the M3 is what I expect will animate our members this weekend”, I entirely agree – the M3 was used to illustrate how this situation is on-going since you entered Government.
But while you’re here, can we take it you’ll he taking a stance on education then? Will you be coming back after Saturday to tell us what you will be taking a stance on?