Green Party wish list.

Blaze420

no.8 wrote: »

Priority, as in the absolute no.1 topic? Well of course thats the case. Human rights aren't my no.1 priority.... so does that mean i don't care whatsoever? Nice tactic

You can indulge in whatever ifs or buts you want, 6% is still 6%. Nobody cares outside of a small circle of eco lunatics in this country.

is_that_so

KevRossi wrote: »

Then there's the more achieveable stuff...

2. Massive development in renewable energy infrastructure including off-shore wind, solar power and an upgrade of national grid.

3. An end to exploration licences for offshore gas exploration.

4. Stopping the fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly the LNG import terminal currently being planned for the River Shannon.

5. Exclusive provision of public housing, social housing and cost rental housing on public lands.

6. Prioritise urban renewal in line with a ‘Town Centre First’ model.

7. A deep retrofit programme


11. Development of a national land use plan.

12. At least 20 per cent of transport spending on cycling and walking, and two-thirds of remaining budget on public transport.

13. Trial universal basic income (UBI) within the lifetime of the government.

14. Revision of National Development Plan to meet new climate targets and social policy goals.

15.Review of the Government and Oireachtas response to the Covid-19 crisis.

I'd take UBI out of that, a complete non-starter IMO, along with transport and I think the housing plan looks like a very deep long-term money pit. 14 is a hornet's nest and would do well to go anywhere. 15 is a given, although, as we've nothing to benchmark it against, it'll be more of a list of what we probably need to do better the next time.

Beechwoodspark

The greens are a force to be reckoned with in this country. They are not going away. They are not a fad. Unfortunately as the eco emergency goes on green issues will just rise in priority.

Eric Cartman

no.8 wrote: »

Look back in our history books.... look around you and overseas
. What mode of transport is unbeatable as a mobile, sustainable, short distance, mode of transport.

Then look in the f*****g mirror, wash your face with cool crisp water, and wake the f**k up Eric

The internal combustion engine is the successor to peddle power and has done more good for society in the 20th and 21st century than bikes. Focussing on rail and busses is much more important and efficient.

Bikes also cannot replace the need for tradesmen to have tools and delivery drivers to drop heavy loads. As you increase a cities population , road transport becomes more and more important.

no.8

Eric Cartman wrote:

Bikes also cannot replace the need for tradesmen to have tools and delivery drivers to drop heavy loads. As you increase a cities population , road transport becomes more and more important.

I completely agree with your assessment on public transport. Absolutely.
However, as an addition to this, implementing quality cycling infrastructure is low cost method to reducing congestion, and also making cities and towns safer for those of all ages.

This country has failed at implementing so many major public transport initiatives.... and now it looks like we have our next excuse lined up

gavindublin

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

The greens are a force to be reckoned with in this country. They are not going away. They are not a fad. Unfortunately as the eco emergency goes on green issues will just rise in priority.

I think most people have a problem with their leader, not so much their party.

Blaze420

gavindublin wrote: »

I think most people have a problem with their leader, not so much their party.

I think most people of working age since 2008 have a problem with their party, are we just supposed to forget what the Greens were part of?

Kivaro

Watching Eamon Ryan with his colleagues giving an interview this evening. It may have been the first time I've seen him in a suit (as if it was an attempt to be taken seriously), but anyway the number 1 item for him and his party that he stated in the interview was ..................... Public Housing. I think he used the words "massive building" was required going forward.

I was flabbergasted and of course disappointed.
Not sure why he changed the term from Social Housing to Public Housing, but if that is the number 1 priority during a worldwide deadly pandemic and uncertain economic future for everyone in Ireland (except knowing that we will have to somehow come up with tens of billions of Euros to pay for the pandemic), the man is so out of touch with reality ....... that he is actually living on another planet.

Sustainability and the environment are hugely important for our future, but I doubt if the current Green party (under Eamon Ryan) will advance that cause. When I think of the Greens in Ireland today, I think of how much they want to tax us for their policies, in a way that they will "hit us when we are down" trying to recover from the pandemic disaster.

gavindublin

Blaze420 wrote: »

I think most people of working age since 2008 have a problem with their party, are we just supposed to forget what the Greens were part of?

No defo not. And I'm not pro green in anyway.
But the first response about greens from most casual voters, is that the tall looney fella.

Their points are extreme. I don't think they'll get any of them over the line when their leader is as extreme

KyussB

So now instead of betraying their supporters to prop up FF - they're going to betray their supporters to prop up FF and FG.

Loafing Oaf

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Fair play to Eamon, he knows he won't get many wishes fulfilled but may as well throw them all out there.

But he's presenting them as 'demands'. Does this mean he knows his party won't agree to any sort of feasible deal with FF and FG so he wants to be seen to be taking a 'principled' stand rather than as the guy who will take any chance he can get at a (battery-powered) ministerial mercs?

_Kaiser_

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

The greens are a force to be reckoned with in this country. They are not going away. They are not a fad. Unfortunately as the eco emergency goes on green issues will just rise in priority.

Nonsense... they appeal to the well-heeled middle-class in primarily Dunlin, and the younger voter - the former of whon use it to virtue-signal under the illusion of a social conscience when times are good and the latter not knowing any better.

When reality and in this case a recession sets in, no-one gives a fook as far more pressing concerns like mass unemployment, rising welfare costs and decisions on cutbacks come into play.

Even when things were good(only a few months back!) not even 10% gave a toss about the "Green agenda" outside of the echo-amplification-chamber that is social media.

Eamon and his supporters are just as out of touch with the mood of the electorate as the rest.

Ultimanemo

Anybody interested in forming a communist party?
Let us go for it
The greens are like water melon
Green on the outside red within
The funniest thing is Commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas development aid.
As per google Irish GDP is $388,708 million, that is $180 million a year
Why?
Unless they want to support their fellow greens worldwide
When ideology gets to power the country is finished, because normal government will use the available resources to run the country, ideology uses country resources to serve the ideology.

tayto lover

It’s mad when a Healy-Rae states that if Eamon Ryan ever got to be Taoiseach he’d have to find somewhere else to live.

Calhoun

Greens are going to have a very big problem when we start getting back to normal and the recession bites.

All that goodwill for extra taxes ect will be gone, wont take long for people to sour to them if they dont do things right.

So i think if they learnt anything from 2008 they will make sure their measures are both progressive but also done in a reasonable manner.

Ultimanemo

Deleted User wrote: »

I don’t understand what are people’s objections to things such as renewable energy and improving cycling infrastructure?

If that is all they want no problem

Yellow_Fern

The Greens are asking for a 7% decrease in carbon every year. The covid shutdown which is the biggest disruption in most peoples lives might only result in a 5% reduction. Its unbelievable. I understand the idea is to wean off carbon fuels but we have been investing enormously in wind for 30 years and on a day day like today we might only get 8% of the grid requirements from wind. http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/

the_pen_turner

the problem I see for the greens is that they are like a toddler that just stood up and is about to take its first steps. they should take it easy , small steps and play it safe. but no they want to run a marathon the first day.
if they ran on normal issues but with a mild green side to it they would get on a lot better.

a lot of stuff on that list is unachievable and some that we should not be considering.
if they ran the green side of it promising to
do a reverse vending machine system
ban all junk mail
reduce packaging and remove all excess packaging
tax on aviation fuel rather
proper fines for dumping etc
bans on products designed to fail prematurely or that cannot be fixed
basic stuff that effects everyone

there would be a lot more love for them. they would be seen to be helping the environment as well as the average joe. as the years would go on people would get used to it and want a bit more environmental policy .

Tell me how

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

0.7% of income to foreign aid ? We are going to be borrowing big time the next 2 years minimum. Why would we just send it abroad to allow some third world country buy fighter jets .

7% carbon reduction each year. Impossible unless we started years ago working on it.

A new social Contract ? Could you be any more vague.

We (most of us anyway) are very eager to listen to the scientists at this point in relation to Covid-19. Similarly qualified and experienced scientists in the field of climate, the environment, meteorology, food production etc are telling us we need to act in relation to the climate. We should equally pay attention to them.

0.7% as foreign aid? I am ok with that, I'm quite sure not all of it will be used on the jets and didn't we benefit for so long from foreign aid also.

Your comment on the 7% carbon reduction reminded of the Chinese tale, 'The best time to plant a tree, is 20 years ago, the 2nd best time, is now.' Yes, we should have started before, but we didn't so............

A new social contract? Vague? Yes. Ridiculous? No. The alternative is piece meal efforts and claims and counter claim for the next 5 years that nothing has been done or more has been done than ever before. Remember all the essential workers we are thankful for? Many of them are on zero hour contracts, poor benefits etc. Would this not be a very mature thing to do, to use this period to look at how they are treated and try to change it?

It's easy to laugh at the Greens, call them hippies or say that the economy has no time for their claims, we need to find a way to support their principles, if not their ideas, or else, we'll all be looking at a waste land and saying 'Nobody warned us' Or, 'This was unprecedented'. We've seen just how resilient the economy is when sh*t gets real.

I'm sick of politics being finger pointing, outright dismissal of the entirety of other ideas. Identify the relevant, workable solutions and find a way to start working at those. This shouldn't be a black or white thing.

Ultimanemo

Don't worry about climate change guys, the Irish weather can only get better

gnf_ireland

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Im wholeheartedly for green taxes

The answer to the climate change issues are not more taxes. The answer is to change people attitudes and behaviours. However, this can be achieved when options exist. Taxing the crap out of petrol & diesel is fine, once a viable alternative exists to replace it. Taxing it for the sake of taxing it makes no sense.

Take building standards as an example. We have a housing crises and this is partly due to the cost of adhering to the building standards that exist today. If its now mandated every new or renovated house has to be to grade A+ for example (or passive), this is likely to make all housing more expensive. This in turn makes the housing problem more difficult to solve.

Maybe the answer is something like - all unit <100sqm have one rule, <150sqm have another rule and >150sqm have a different rule.

One option here is to offer an incentive for employers to continue to allow staff working from home - even if its 2-3 days a week. This would take massive pressure off the roads, and also dramatically reduce traffic. It would also enable more people commute longer distances the 2 days a week they are in the office (using public transport) and therefore take pressure off urban housing supply. This is the one good thing that may come out of COVID

If we attempt to tax our way out of this climate issue, it will mean less money in peoples pockets and will go back to the days of austerity.

I have no issues with the Green's setting the bar high in terms of climate reductions - but it would be good to see HOW they plan to achieve them and what the cost of achieving them is? We are in a very different situation now than we were in February, so costs are a consideration. Any excessive borrowing must be focused on capital projects.

gnf_ireland

Tell me how wrote: »

A new social contract? Vague? Yes. Ridiculous? No. The alternative is piece meal efforts and claims and counter claim for the next 5 years that nothing has been done or more has been done than ever before. Remember all the essential workers we are thankful for? Many of them are on zero hour contracts, poor benefits etc. Would this not be a very mature thing to do, to use this period to look at how they are treated and try to change it?

These sound bites are easy to shout out. I have rakes of them myself, but there has to be some detail put around them.

There is a reason that 'world order' is changing. The youth of today are looking at a situation where their quality of life will be lower than their parents for the first time (probably ever). Things like zero hour contract are part of that, but the chance of owning their own home etc also adds into it.

Take pensions - anyone in their early 40's today will be 68 before the can get the state pension assuming its there at all. Public sector can retire after 40 years, irrespective of the 68 rule (some earlier like Gardai). Most private sector workers who have pensions have very little in them - might fund 4-5k a year. The gap between the two is massive and it needs to be solved, but everyone keeps kicking it down the road as its politically too toxic.

I 100% agree with a new social contract - but most people resist change and it will be a very difficult thing to achieve. In my opinion, its just one of those buzzword bingo phrases without some concrete and costed ideas to support it.

My first social contract change after banning zero hour contracts would be, that politicians move to a defined contribution pension structure and can only sit in the Dail for 4 terms (in total). Anyone who has run for election and failed to be elected, cannot run for the Seanad. When people start to reform, look to themselves first and set the baseline there - rather than the do as I say rather than do as I do.

Kivaro

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

... Slowing down the economy, better distribution of wealth worldwide, and less mindless consumerism may fill some of you with dread, but if we want to save this Earth we have to change our ways.

The thing is ........ what you mentioned above is what a good percentage of us living in Ireland want. I would wholeheartedly sign up (and pay) for that platform, but this is the question: what about the other Green policies that they are trying to force through in order to get this coalition government into power?

For example, they want us to spend 0.7% of our national income on Overseas Development Aid. How much money is that actually? In the billions or euro .... every year, that they want us to send to Africa where the population is continuing to explode to a non-sustainable level.
And they also want to end Direct Provisioning. So anyone can fly into Dublin from Albania, Georgia, Pakistan, and Nigeria (after paying for multiple flights to get here) and then immediately get apartments and houses. We have an obvious affordable housing problem in this country; is this a logical or practical policy? How about a policy to streamline the asylum process so that asylum seekers will know their application status within a number of months and not the multiple years of costly legal appeals (paid by the tax payer) that we currently have?

Yellow_Fern

Tell me how wrote: »

We (most of us anyway) are very eager to listen to the scientists at this point in relation to Covid-19. Similarly qualified and experienced scientists in the field of climate, the environment, meteorology, food production etc are telling us we need to act in relation to the climate. We should equally pay attention to them.

0.7% as foreign aid? I am ok with that, I'm quite sure not all of it will be used on the jets and didn't we benefit for so long from foreign aid also.

Your comment on the 7% carbon reduction reminded of the Chinese tale, 'The best time to plant a tree, is 20 years ago, the 2nd best time, is now.' Yes, we should have started before, but we didn't so............

A new social contract? Vague? Yes. Ridiculous? No. The alternative is piece meal efforts and claims and counter claim for the next 5 years that nothing has been done or more has been done than ever before. Remember all the essential workers we are thankful for? Many of them are on zero hour contracts, poor benefits etc. Would this not be a very mature thing to do, to use this period to look at how they are treated and try to change it?

It's easy to laugh at the Greens, call them hippies or say that the economy has no time for their claims, we need to find a way to support their principles, if not their ideas, or else, we'll all be looking at a waste land and saying 'Nobody warned us' Or, 'This was unprecedented'. We've seen just how resilient the economy is when sh*t gets real.

I'm sick of politics being finger pointing, outright dismissal of the entirety of other ideas. Identify the relevant, workable solutions and find a way to start working at those. This shouldn't be a black or white thing.

This is not true. Zero hours contracts are extremely rare in all countries and especially Ireland and are pretty much banned in Ireland. I work part time for the public sector and Id love a zero contract to bump up my pay. Essential workers get reasonable pay. Some consultants who joined during last recession are underpaid but there is a private sector they can leave too. We absolutely do not need a new social contract.

I used to support the Greens. But for all sorts of reasons I dont support them and I am deeply concerned that they could jeopardise the Metrolink.

Idbatterim

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Banning off shore energy exploration is madness for future investment in Ireland.

The rest of the stuff is just throwing a green sticker over ‘tax the middle and upper classes even more to death’

Their plans are anti business, anti professional and on the cusp of a recession are a disgusting slap in the face to the people who paid our way out of the last one and will pay this one. I hope FF and FG see through this and don’t create an ireland where the professionals that remain are forced to emigrate to not have every cent stolen off them.

Cartman to hell with the taxpayers , we have to keep Margaret cash and the legions like her here, contributing to bookies, take away and pubs ... what if they emigrate?!

Eric Cartman

Idbatterim wrote: »

Cartman to hell with the taxpayers , we have to keep Margaret cash and the legions like her here, contributing to bookies, take away and pubs ... what if they emigrate?!

Ill charter the planes to Magaluf myself :pac:

Idbatterim

They should incentivise taxis to go electric, they do a hell of a lot more mileage than your average private electric car driver....

Maybe free public transport outside peak times...

Idbatterim

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Ill charter the planes to Magaluf myself :pac:

That must be why fg continue to loom after the long term welfare classes , fears they might emigrate and do us all a favour !

We can go halves, should be able to organise a cheap charter now it will be a one way journey. Not like their usual several time a year visits to Costa del knacker

KaneToad

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

How on earth Ryan and his merry bunch gets as much time as they do is beyond me.

They talk as if they're the 4th largest party in the country. And as if they had 155,700 votes.

The cheek of them...

Eric Cartman

A bottle buyback scheme
a permit for a private company to build a nuclear power plant
heavy penalties for fly tipping
a fine system (that can be taken at source from welfare) and / or custodial sentence for the mass dumping on halting sites
as above for the constant roadside dumping issues in Dublin 1, ballyfermot, coolock etc...
a levy on cheap imported frozen food sold in the likes of Iceland / lidl etc.. which always has plastic packaging and detracts from locally produced alternatives
A provision tax on properties within 2km of a luas or dart line to help fund further infrastructure.

these measures would be effective.