"Green" policies are destroying this country

Do you think the present three parties in government will canvas as a triumvirate for re-election to govern for another five years ?

Realpolitik is based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations and covering your flanks. FG and FF have a lot of disquited rural voters. They are not going to add to that by canvassing to go back with the Greens. An alliance with a group of rural T.D.s would suit both much better.

Who cares? It would be extremely difficult for them to be any worse, for peoples life in general.

In reality having a rural independent TD bloc Vs a Greens government party is going to make absolutely zero difference to global climate change, but would possibly be less destructive to peoples standard of living in Ireland

Very very few people use the River Liffey, sure they should build a new dual carriageway on that…

The Greens have nominated O Gorman as their new leader and all he cares about his increasing the population.

More flights in and out of the country.

Move material for building houses.

More heating for houses.

More cars on the road.

You would forgive me for thinking they want to increase the carbon footprint in Ireland.

If there are no Greens in government who are you all going to blame in FFG for implementing EU policies?

Couldn’t they blame the EU policies? Or are they just being good little Irish people and seeing the EU as blameless.

Them EU green policies will be ejected in coming years

Germany is falling apart under them policies, and where Germany goes EU goes

Speaking of EU policies, the one which is marks wood imported from rainforests half way across world and burned and then marketed as “green” is one of my favourites

Interesting article on RTE today

Climate policies will raise temperatures by 3.1C - UN

I follow the news on this pretty closely and have done for ten years now and as time ticks by we (the world not just Ireland or Europe) move further and further away from where we need to be. Is it time to have a real discussion about what's actually achievable in terms of mitigating climate change? We need to start planning for the inevitable imo, how will the climate change, how do we adapt etc. I don't hear anyone talking about a plan B, just a plan A that clearly is not working.

Flooding, drought and food security should be planned for. I know we produce a lot of food but it's not that varied and we eat mostly imported food. I think we're locked in for the weather to get more and more unpredictable in future.

The European Green Deal hasn't got long to live.

Expect major downward revisions on many targets in the next Commission term.

Interesting comment. I remember listening last year to Today FM's Matt Cooper (for my sins) and yer man from Carlow Weather was on and so was John Gibbons, scaremonger in chief. Carlow Weather dude was basically saying that we in Ireland need investment in flood warning systems and other such adaptations - whereas Gibbons was of the opinion that if Ireland was a zero-emissions country then the Midelton Floods would never happen (it was a few days after the floods there). Gripping stuff. The likes of Gibbons and his ilk need to pick up a history book on the Irish climate.

The vikings were incredible in what they achieved but I'm not sure they managed time travel back to the iron age? Are you sure it wasn't 2000 years later in 1000AD?

Weather forecasters in Ireland can't really predict the weather beyond 3 days, the accuracy of their forecasts declines markedly, nothing has changed, the weather will remain unpredictable for the foreseeable future. When people talk about climate change, they are talking about the statistics of weather over an arbitrary time period, they often settle on 30 year time windows using a convention established in the early 20th century. Despite all the sensationalist news coverage there has been no significant change in severity of weather events and data proves humans are much better prepared and have become more resilient to severe weather events since the start of the 20th century. The claim that the weather will become more unpredictable in future cannot be supported by evidence.

Significant famines of the 20th and 21st century (Yemen, Sudan, malnutrition in Gaza), have either been a consequence of war (previous examples Bengal famine, Ethiopia 1980s) in marginal growing areas or imposition of Marxist ideology (North Korea in the 90s, Mao's Great leap backward, Pol Pot year zero, Russian collectivisation). The world population has risen by substantial margin globally since the advent of agricultural and industrial revolutions, war significantly disrupts the distribution of food resources needed for life support, adverse weather creates temporary logistical problems and may destroy individual crops and bad weather can have an effect on food prices year to year. The threat to food security in Ireland comes from war (Ukraine or the Red sea round Yemen) and the pursuit of unattainable net zero goals by various European states. We will have to get creative to find find calories in event of major disruption of oil supplies, that stops the harvest and distribution of food, however, pursuit of net zero is the end of the post World War cheap food policy, we will spend a greater portion of our incomes on food, that has severe consequences when you are not well off, you are going to want cheap calories and that's not necessarily the best quality food.

The farms we have in Ireland today are much more productive than the dog and stick farming that preceded World War II. Study Irish peoples diet prior to World war II if you want to know what sustainable food looks like in this country. You can still find people who lived in 1950s Ireland, ask them what they ate. Oliver Fletcher, a farmer in Leicestershire, England who has been putting out videos, providing insight into the development of UK agricultural policy, pre and post war. It is very interesting to learn the rise of the "organic" food growing movement was embraced by some members of the English aristocracy with their own motives that did not include concern for the farmer or providing food to the masses and how the current pursuit of "sustainable" agriculture appeals to them as owners of large tracts of land. The experience of World war II food rationing is the major reason why Europe pursued the agricultural policy it did.

More foolhardy proposals from the most conscientious party. We already have strong penalties for the distance travelled, why add additional tolls? There's a significant amount of tax and duties per litre, so the further you drive, the more it costs.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/fine-gael-and-fianna-fail-join-forces-to-block-green-partys-ridiculous-pollution-tax-on-drivers-before-election/a550272342.html

If the Green party senses they are on the way out of government, it makes sense to do a last time push. Green party leadership do follow direction from their party members, remember this is a party who kept FF in government, just to get a Stag hunting bill passed in 2010. Over 10 years later, deer need to be culled. They may have been punished for one election cycle, however, the electorate has a short memory. Labours vote imploded with most of their voter pool going to Sinn Fein, that left a floating left wing vote that considers Sinn Fein taboo, The Green party tap into that voter market using environmentalism as the bait. Commercial advertising for consumer goods puts a lick of green paint on their products to increase margins (cars, mortgages, food), there is much reinforcement in the media and commercially and the Green party is aligned with that messaging. There is no political party linking the rising tax take from "environmental" taxes as a contributor to increased cost of living.

If you look at Moving Together - A Strategic Approach to the Improved Efficiency of the Transport System in Ireland. Towards the end you will see what they are pursing. How about a workplace parking levy? Experience elsewhere shows Employers outside the public sector pass this tax on to their employees. Let's tax the workers even more with "ultra low emissions zones", Want an electrician or plumber to service your property, it's already €100+ for a callout, in future if you live in ULEZ it will be callout fee + ULEZ tax + extra labour and parts (VAT). The green tax overhead keeps going up, as it does, the Green partys vote will increasingly be confined to wealthy urban left wing voters.

As for FF & FG, they are no better, they keep signing us taxpayers up to international treaties/agreements, then turn with a straight face tell the electorate to be the "best boys in Europe", we have "obligations " to pay said taxes. Disagree, they label you as a populist for roysh climate denier.