happy days happy days

quader

:D:D the greens are dead :D:p:p:o

johngalway

Problem with the Greens is they never bloody die. They may not be in the Dail (and I hope they lose all their seats) but they'll still be there in the background writing, talking, acting.

Tora Bora

quader wrote: »

:D:D the greens are dead :D:p:p:o

FF mortally wounded:D:D:D

whelan1

and gerry adams in the dail:eek::eek::eek:

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

and gerry adams in the dail:eek::eek::eek:

Mirrors on sticks for all :eek:

pajero12

johngalway wrote: »

Problem with the Greens is they never bloody die. They may not be in the Dail but they'll still be there in the background writing, talking, acting.

Thing is nothing they say has any f*ucking effect anymore

johngalway

pajero12 wrote: »

Thing is nothing they say has any f*ucking effect anymore

I wouldn't get too cosy with that notion, they can still lobby European bodies.

Today was a good day, sweeping most if not all of them from the Dail (haven't kept up with all the results). but, the insidious thing about them is they're a "movement", they don't die from lack of representation.

Unfortunately.

LostCovey

johngalway wrote: »

I wouldn't get too cosy with that notion, they can still lobby European bodies.

Today was a good day, sweeping most if not all of them from the Dail (haven't kept up with all the results). but, the insidious thing about them is they're a "movement", they don't die from lack of representation.

Unfortunately.

They got about 15% of the vote of Fianna Fáil. I don't think we have seen the last of either of these national movements.

Suckler

It would be extremly naive to think that the green "Agenda" will disappear. In reality every political party should have a green agenda. I would support the greens ideas in that we cant continue the way we ( The country- not just agri) are with regard to waste and effluent management. The greens failed because they wanted to tax and penalise to realise their goals, which was not what the people needed during the economic downturn and was doomed to fail. Agriculture is an industry and it will have to be regulated like others. The old "them jackeens in Dublin dont know what their talkin about" line is akin to a petulant teenager railing against authority figures.
Take the farming by dates issue; It doesn't work in its current form but it cannot be scrapped entirely. Every other Industry has guidelines to follow an we cannot begin to think we are above this.

pakalasa

Good points there suckler.
Heard there just this week that Ireland now has some of the cleanest waterways in Europe. I lot of that, in fairness, is due to the Nitrates Directive. Say what you will about the Greens, and I wasn't a fan either, ,but they certainly kept issues like the environment and pollution in the public eye.

blue5000

pakalasa wrote: »

Good points there suckler.
Heard there just this week that Ireland now has some of the cleanest waterways in Europe. I lot of that, in fairness, is due to the Nitrates Directive. Say what you will about the Greens, and I wasn't a fan either, ,but they certainly kept issues like the environment and pollution in the public eye.

Yes interesting that local authorities are the biggest polluters of waterways, and they are supposed to be monitoring us, ffs. POT-KETTLE-BLACK:rolleyes:

johngalway

blue5000 wrote: »

Yes interesting that local authorities are the biggest polluters of waterways, and they are supposed to be monitoring us, ffs. POT-KETTLE-BLACK:rolleyes:

I went for an interview with a LA one time, not so very long ago actually. During that interview one of the panel started laying into farmers about pollution. I wasn't exactly in a position to say much, but after the fact, it came out it was their shambolic sewerage strategy that had the biggest hand in it!

Suckler

blue5000 wrote: »

Yes interesting that local authorities are the biggest polluters of waterways, and they are supposed to be monitoring us, ffs. POT-KETTLE-BLACK:rolleyes:

You are correct, It was only this week that the River Hind in Roscommon was found to be severly polluted by LA sewerage schemes.

Sewerage and waste water disposal is an issue in itself.

It still should not be an excuse or reason for agriculture sector to decide to spread what we want-when-we-want. It would be a complete step backward.

The Green Party brought some "green issues" to the fore alright but the way they went about it has rubbed everyone up the wrong way.

One Green issue that will rear its head very soon is renewable energy.The on-going conflicts across the middle east has pushed up the price of oil. It has only been steadied by Saudi Arabia increasing output. There was an article in Time magazine recently quetioning Saudi Arabia's Oil reserves, hinting that they may be overstated. We are on a knife edge with oil and would quickly want to start getting in to Bio fuels. How many of us could work the farm with no oil?

sh1tstirrer

Suckler wrote: »

You are correct, It was only this week that the River Hind in Roscommon was found to be severly polluted by LA sewerage schemes.

Sewerage and waste water disposal is an issue in itself.

It still should not be an excuse or reason for agriculture sector to decide to spread what we want-when-we-want. It would be a complete step backward.

The Green Party brought some "green issues" to the fore alright but the way they went about it has rubbed everyone up the wrong way.

One Green issue that will rear its head very soon is renewable energy.The on-going conflicts across the middle east has pushed up the price of oil. It has only been steadied by Saudi Arabia increasing output. There was an article in Time magazine recently quetioning Saudi Arabia's Oil reserves, hinting that they may be overstated. We are on a knife edge with oil and would quickly want to start getting in to Bio fuels. How many of us could work the farm with no oil?

Back in the 70's we were told there wasn't much oil left. There has been a lot of it burnt since.

Tora Bora

Got a nice bike on the bike to work scheme thanks to the tree huggers, even though I live 25 miles from work. :D:cool:
Still delighted to see the back of the fcukers.

stanflt

pajero12 wrote: »

Thing is nothing they say has any f*ucking effect anymore

especially on friday when the stag hunt came through the farm:D:D:D

Bodacious

Tora Bora wrote: »

Got a nice bike on the bike to work scheme thanks to the tree huggers, even though I live 25 miles from work. :D:cool:
Still delighted to see the back of the fcukers.

You'd have a right good case of saddle-sore the first few mornings after 25miles !!;)

Suckler

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Back in the 70's we were told there wasn't much oil left. There has been a lot of it burnt since.

Correct, peak oil was touted at being hit around 2000 back then I think. Its still not clear what reserves are left in Irag/ Afghanistan and is possibly more of a matter for the conspiracy theorists! i.e Oil reserves being kept in the dark to maintain prices.
The point I was leaning toward is becoming more self sufficient. As an island, we are inherently dependant on imports and oil, being a major one, has the potential to make or break economic recovery. Oil price fluctuations can cause the price at the pumps to go up a fraction but in turn causes the price of production to rise, which (should) in turn leads to cost to consumer rise and higher cost of living etc.

The main point I was tryin to emphasise here is that the Green Agenda should not go away and should be re-affirmed as long term sustainability. If we can achieve that then we can achieve a stable climate to work in.

Edit: I'm am far from a typical tree hugger - I run 2 4x4's and have a heavy right foot! Its more long term sustainability I wanted to advocate!

Pharaoh1

I don't think the Greens were ever going to get a huge number of votes from the farming community but they could have made themselves more relevant.

For example they stood by and watched the REPS scheme be scrapped.
REPS = Rural Environmental Protection Scheme
Not a word from any of them no threat to walk out of govt - nothing.

48% of all farmers were/are in REPS.

Had they come out and insisted the scheme be kept and that the payment rates be reduced and that entry be restricted to those with lower SFP or direct payments in order to fit with the new funding realities they would have won plaudits.
Instead the agreed with scrapping a perfectly good scheme that everyone was familiar with and trained, had an inspection structure in place etc..and replaced it with an entirely new unnecessary and imo mickey mouse scheme.
Just one example REPS allowed for hedgerow rejuvenation where old, rotten, dirty hedges could be replaced - I think this was an excellent option but AEOS does not allow this.

Of course FF should take the lions share of the blame.