And another one bites the dust…
Hmmm there goes Deirdre… She was no fainting Violet, but now Senator de Burca is gone (from the Seanad as well as from the party whip) the Greens in the Republic’s government must be wondering what’s next? Veronica has a great review over at Irish Election on how it all went so badly wrong for the Greens and for their leader, John Gormley. Nothing describes it so succinctly as the problem of the Poolbeg incinerator. But the real killer has been the way the economic downturn has cashiered what little interesting the Irish people had been able to muster on environmental safety:
Even before the ill-fated Copenhagen Conference, public support for climate change measures had taken a dive in Holland. In the US, support has also dipped and the US President’s climate policy agenda looks likely to be pushed aside, at least until after the mid-term elections. Closer to home, in a recent BBC News sponsored opinion poll only 26% agreed that climate change is happening and is a result of human activity, down from 41% in a similar poll in November of last year.The Irish public mood is also in flux. In a recent Euro barometer poll, Irish respondents downgraded their concerns about global warming with only 38% citing climate change as an important issue for the EU, a much sharper decline than experienced in other EU countries. “More than 60% of Irish people answered “Yes” when asked whether “Economic growth must be a priority for Ireland, even if it affects the environment,” according to the EU Commission office, compared with 44% in Spring 2008.
Stephen links her resignation letter…
Just like the French, we won’t be seeing de burca in public any more.
Another person who won’t be missed.FF are doing a good job with all their partners over the years.
Going back 50 years they have all gone by the wayside and the Greens are next.The people are lying in the grass waiting.De Burca what did she stand for.Does anyone know of any policy documents she put out.The greatest advancement we make in power is in education, that empowers us all.They had their chance.Usless more than useless to lie in bed with FF
Unfortunately the link did not work for me so I have no idea who “Veronica” is.
Its a minor irritation that marks out Slugger professionals from Slugger amateurs……and gives a kinda credibility in the Journalist/Blogger debate.
My own position about all that Green stuff is that I believe it……but I dont really care.
The Greens provide the service that the Communists did in the 1930s…a loose society for Youngish people to show they have a social conscience.
Labour stalwart Dennis Healey was I believe a Communist in the 1930s….I think he described it as a bed and breakfast party.
Most people grow out of it.
Most Queens students will grow out of the Green party.
The older we get we realise that politics is a crude mixture of high ideal and low self interest (mortgage rates, tax rates).
Most of todays Greens will end up as right wing Tories.
If the voting age was lowered to 5……they would win on a landslide.
FitzjamesHorse
Speak for yourself. Marxism is a relevant today as was in 30′s even more so.
I hear also She didn’t get the promised job in Brussels.
I know one should not gloat, but history proves any party which claims to be progressive and gets into bed with FF, probably one of the most Tammany Hall type parties in Europe, always comes out second best after being well and truly shafted.
If Gerry Adams thinks he has had a rough few weeks leading up to the policing deal, he should ponder where SF would be if they had been the FF partner instead of the Greens.
The lesson here is never desert your core base for a temporally place in the sun.
mickhall ,
‘The lesson here is never desert your core base for a temporally place in the sun.’
Now thats a piece of political advice that yer man in the White House could do with . He has been well and truly shafted not just by the GOP but even more so from within his own party . He may be beginning to realise that half the Senate democrats and half the House Democrat’s first loyalty is not to the their representatives but to themselves alone and second place goes to their corporate backers and their ‘voters’ come a very distant third if that .
Bending over backwards too far to be seen as reasonable doesn’t work if you are a lamb trying to negotiate with a ravenous lion . It just means the lion gets to bite your arse first
!
The longer the Greens stumble around in government, the more they seem like a ” Folk Mass ” group, enjoying the limelight, but still wondering how they got there , what is holding them together and what is now expected of them.
The leap from sandals and organic vegetables to sharing office with the most corrupt and inept government this country has ever experienced has proven to be too much for them. Soon, they’ll be a mere blot on the historical map , alongside the PD’s and Aontacht Eireann.
I tend to agree with Fitzjameshorse. The Greens are a place for young middle class people with a bit of a social conscience to go until they get a mortgage and a few kids and ‘grow up’ and vote for their Daddy’s party (FF or FG).
They are also staggeringly naive politically as shown by the fact that they thought they could survive where the PDs, a far more battle hardened party died.
A few local elections back the Greens failed to field a candidate in my constituency because they did not know the registration rules. (First they tried to run a non-citizen when that failed their last minute stand in could not get the needed thirty signatures on his application in time).
Talking politics with a few Green Party supporters is a bit like being back in civics class as a twelve year old.
Urban_Underclass posting a comment on his laptop!! Priceless!
Just shows what a load of cobblers the Greens are.
If Mick Hall is correct: let’s hope SF get in bed soon with FF, so that SF can be destroyed. Fact is, however, the Greens have no sure base. (Remember Neil Blaney, Drumboe and 77) I wonder how many Greenies are Arsenal/ Man Utd prawn sandwich brigade.
Rats deserving the sinking ship.
What is Eirigi’s view on the Environment? Do they support tghe petrol diesel polluting antics of the fighting men?