Why do the Green party seem to have it in for country people?

Well I for one despise the Green party they are quite simply fools and the sooner they are gone the better for all . The main parties all have green policies and most of it comes from the Eu anyway, so we dont need these muppets implementing carbon levies at times of economic turmoil.
That said there is a serious issue with septic tanks in this country and water pollution that as a nation we need to address but we dont need the greens to do it or take credit for it as they do with any sustainable job that has been created

bladespin wrote: »

I'm not commenting on the logic of inspecting septic tanks, I'm asking if others feel the green party is targetting rural people.

I'm not passing any judgement on the septic tank thing just the politics of it, they're repeatedly targetting the countryside in my view, I'd like to know why, there's plenty of environmental problems in cities, not least is the fact that they're going to have to pump the water you mention in from the countryside to meet Dublin's demand.

Most of our water quality problems seem not to come from the water source but more from how it is delivered to the consumer, pumping stations, treatment plants etc.

No, our water problems come from the fact that water treatment plants are overwhelmed by the volume of pollutants in our water. By far and away the two biggest sources of water pollution in Ireland are agricultural runoff and leaky septic tanks. Industrial and urban runoff is small in comparison, especially because industry is monitored to a much stricter degree than agriculture.

Dublin, for example does not have quality problems - it has a supply problem, where most of the water is leaking out it's network of old water pipes. It gets its water from the Dublin and Wicklow mountains - hardly pumping it across the country. There are environmental problems in the cities, of course, but it is still much more environmentally friendly to live in a large town or city than in a rural area. If you live in a rural area, you will likely drive more miles, use more fuel, have a larger, one storey house that uses more energy to heat, with much larger gardens, which also have an environmental impact, and you will require a larger mileage of roads to serve you, and all services you use will have to cover a greater distance and be less efficient. Obviously, green policies are going to try and cut down on al the above, and so they will have a greater impact on rural dwellers.

mike65 wrote: »

How many rural Green tds and councillors are there?

Mary White is one, lives near Borris, Co. Carlow in the foothills of Mt. Leinster.
You could probably consider Councillors in most county towns as fairly rural too, since very few of those towns have any of the facilities of the cities and their residents face similar problems.

sceptre wrote: »

If I can assume it means "outside the cities of Dublin (incl DL), Cork, Limerick and Galway"[1], it's one TD (Mary White from Carlow/Kilkenny). And one senator, Deirdre de Burca being from Wexford. That's out of 6 TDs total and 2 senators total.

If "rural" means "outside Dublin" obviously we get the same answer for Oireachtas members.

Councillors, I think they're currently at one in Dublin (if we can include town council seats in Balbriggan) and three county councillors outside (Clare, Kilkenny & Louth). At the 2004 local electons they had a high proportion of their 18 county councillors and 14 town councillors outside Dublin. Their biggest losses in the 2009 locals though were DL/Rathdown and Fingal, where they had 4 seats and 3 seats respectively before the election - and that's out of a national total of 18 (have a look at the summary changes here).



[1] Only the first two of those have electoral areas that are pretty much unquestionably urban though.

Actually I think there are some ridiculous assumptions being made there. Sewerage systems exist outside of Dublin and often extend to the town boundary or beyond (for housing estates and nearby villages). In the case of the Green cllr. in Dundalk, it's true to say that a fair bit of the ward lies outside Dundalk. But not in terms of population. I think the number of urban dwellers is in the region of 80% (in Dundalk South anyway). Furthermore, the town/county boundary is quite present in people's minds and rural votes tend to stay with rural cllrs. And to a lesser extent, the same with urban votes IMO.

Outside of Mary White, I can't think of any properly rural Green Party politicians except for that cllr. in Clare.

Specifically on topic, why the heck are the greens concerned with groundwater when most of them wouldn't have to worry about the consequences of its pollution?? Possibly the majority/significant minority of people with septic tanks would also use wellwater, so it's in their interest to be concerned about septic tanks. If the water quality tests from that are fine, why the hell should they be concerned about groundwater unless their property adjoins a stream/river??

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

But that should go both ways. If people aren't being supplied with a public service, they should not be charged a tax for providing the service themselves.

Doesn't it cut both ways, though? If its not paid for by the people it effects, then its partly paid for by people who neither need nor use the service.

Imagine if the rural population of Ireland were told that they were facing a tax increase to pay for urban public transport. I would imagine there would be outrage...that rural Ireland would be subsidising urban services.

So when we look at the issue of septic tanks, who should pay for it? If everyone pays for it, then urban Ireland are subsidising rural services....which should presumably entitle them to the same outrage mentioned above.

Instead, the notion has been put forward that those who have septic tanks are the ones who should fund (at least, in part) the inspection of septic tanks. Its a bit like suggesting people who use a bus service should pay (at least in part) for their bus ticket....but somehow its different?

If people in urban areas were charged rates for having the same services provided to them (running water as well as sewerage) then this would be more equitable.

I'd readily agree that anyone being provided with a service such as water-supply or waste-management should have to pay for it.