I’m sick to the teeth of all those letters to the papers accusing the Greens of a sell-out. These people seem to prefer protest to power.
Here's an admission. I actually voted for the Greens and I'm glad they went into Government.
Over the next five years John Gormley (no relation of mine) and Eamonn Ryan will have the power to do a load of small things that can make a very considerable difference to the environment in Ireland.
For example, the Greens will be able to extend the Greener Homes scheme which allows people to put renewable energy solutions into their homes. This scheme has been a real winner because it encourages people to invest their own money into reducing their long-term bills and reducing pollution for everyone into the bargain.
John Gormley, the new Environment Minister, will be able to get to work on the minutiae. He will be able to consider, for example, whether wood pellet stoves are really the way we want to go. He can extend the grants, he can make them bigger, he can make up new ones.
The Labour Party, on the other hand, emerges from the election with their honour intact. For the next five years they can't be blamed for anything.
Take, for example, the RAPID programme. This programme has the power to completely change the life experiences for the people living in Ireland's poorest areas. It's a brilliant scheme which brings all the local agencies from the local authorities to the gardai to the politicians together to solve the problems of tens of thousands of men, women and children living on the very margins of our society.
But in the coalition of the PDs and Fianna Fail, the RAPID scheme has been woefully under-resourced. Is that a surprise? After all, as Michael McDowell said, it is the small party's tail that wags the big Fianna Fail dog. And the PDs don't really 'do' poor people.
But Labour does. That's what it says on the tin. Labour, over the last 10 years, could have had themselves in Government but they chose purity instead. And now Labour can't be blamed for the failings in the RAPID programme. Isn't that useful?
Fianna Fail have won the votes of Labour's natural constituency - the working classes and the lower middle classes. Fianna Fail delivered lower personal taxes, agreements with the unions and expanding employment. They were Fianna Fail successes - Labour delivered nothing.
What of Fianna Fail's failures? They didn't sort out the health service, solve the crime problems or provide affordable homes.
But you know what? Neither did Labour. Every Fianna Fail failure is Labour's failure too because for the last 10 years the Irish Labour Party has contributed absolutely nothing to Ireland. They did this because they apparently wanted to punish Fianna Fail. You could burst into tears right now with the sheer stupidity of it all.
Here's another admission. When I had done voting Green, I transferred my vote to Labour. I was sort of hoping that some sanity would prevail and that Labour would think more about getting its policies enacted rather than what the Irish Times letter writers would say.
That said, the party I voted for is in Government and I feel all the better for it.
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2 comments:
Well Niall, it was all very well supporting the Greens when we believed that they were a genuine voice of dissent in a wilderness of political apathy. But they're in bed with the enemy now and people are right to criticize them for selling out. Not once in your article did you mention the US troops at Shannon airport. Then again, neither did your friends in the Green Party mention it when they were negotiating their sell out with Fianna Fail. It was only last autumn that your were leaping to the Taoiseach's defence when the "Bertiegate" scandal emerged. Just whose side are you really on, Niall?
Damien, I'm on the side of getting things done. The point of the article was to consider whther the Labour Party or the Green Party had done the best out of the election. You can protest as much as you like whether you are in or out of power but if you are in power you actually get to decide government policy and where money gets spent. I think that there is much that the Greens can achieve by being in office.
70% of people vote for FF or FG. Even though I don't vote for either, I'm not all that upset about it and I would be prepared to work with them.
You say that FF allows the US to use Shannon. True. FF also introduced the minimum wage. One decision bad - one decision good. Going into government with FF doesn't necessarily mean that the Greens support the US in Shannon any more than your opposition to this government means you're opposed to the minimum wage.
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