INTRODUCTION
We are at a fearful time in the world. Some politicians are ramping it up to advance their own
nefarious causes, we on the other hand need to acknowledge it but then move on to inspire a
sense of confidence, determination and hope that we have solutions to the real problems we
do face.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Last week for the for first time in human history the concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the
atmosphere reached 410 parts per million. The Arctic Ice Sheet is melting rapidly, the great
coral reefs are dying and changing weather systems threaten large areas of our Earth.
We are putting this new stress on a natural world where 50% of all wildlife has already
disappeared over the last 40 years. We are tearing apart the fabric of life that sustains us. We
are ignoring the message delivered by the Club of Rome some fifty years ago. That there are
real limits to growth. Our 21st century challenge is to make sure all our people have a good
quality of life without crashing the living systems on this planet.
Now more than every before we have to step up to that challenge. We have been thinking
and talking about it for decades. We have also done a lot of things that works and learnt from
mistakes that will always be part of a change process. We should not underestimate the scale
of the evolutionary leap we need to make. But it is time to really go for it. We know we can
make the change. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. It is a leap that is within our
nature and brings us to a better social and economic model for all man and woman kind.
We need systems thinking to make it work. A lot of different challenges are interconnected
and the solution to one will interact with other areas in unexpected ways. Take climate
change and mass migration, two of the biggest challenges where we are frozen by
uncertainty, fear and inaction. The two are connected. If we tackle climate change, we can
stop mass migration in its tracks.
MIGRATION
People don’t naturally want to leave their home. They are forced out by famine, flooding,
drought and war. That is why the US military recognise climate change as the biggest
security threat we face, no matter what their new President says. If we have runaway climate
change, there will be no peace in our world.
We are already seeing the consequences of the strain being felt in hotter regions. On the 10th
of March Stephen O’Brien Under-secretary for humanitarian affairs at the UN said ‘We stand
at a critical point in history. We are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since WW2 as 20
million people across Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya face starvation and
famine.’
In February, I had the privilege of visiting various refugee centres on the Syrian/Turkish
border. In makeshift hospitals, schools and orphanages I met ordinary decent people literally
blown apart by their conflict. It was caused by civil war but it is clear that climate change was
an underlying factor which it started off Half a million people have died, eight million have
been displaced and two million more disabled for life. The individual reality when you face
it is impossible to ignore and people across Syria, Turkey and Europe have been real heros in
how they have responded to this crisis. The problem is the rest of us are uncertain as to what
to do and fearful what this massive movement of people might bring.
It is not surprising that people are fearful and we should not belittle their concerns. We need
an emergency response that integrates refugees into our communities in a way that also
protects the living standards of all our own people. At the same time we need to tackle the
source of the problem. We need to help provide stable environments in distant countries that
we know little about. The one certainty is that we will not be able to provide that security if
we do not stabilise our climate.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The good news is that solutions are now at hand. Delivering them can also address the gross
economic inequality that is undermining our Western way of life. We have everything to
gain by making this just transition to a more sustainable future. The mechanisms to make it
happen were set out in the Sustainable Development Goals we signed up to in New York in
2015. They provide a manifesto for both the developing and developed world. They
recognise that looking after the environment is connected to looking after
ourselves. Sustainability is as much about creating the right economic, justice, health,
education, and social welfare systems as it is about managing natural resources.
The evolutionary leap we need to make requires politics that relies on the power of
connection and collaboration rather than the exploitation of fear, division and hate. It also
requires a spiritual and cultural dimension to guide what we are about. Inspiration can come
from the fact that no community will be left behind and that every community will be part of
the solution. It is an empowering message. What we do matters, we can be proud as we take
our place in the race to make the transition happen.
TRUMP
I was proud when I heard our Taoiseach saying that our national saint was in fact the patron
saint of all migrants. It picked up on what we were saying about the need to stand up against
Donald Trump’s agenda. There is a reason why 50 million people clicked the play button on
that speech. The world is hungry for someone to speak such truth to power. While we are
small and in many ways insignificant, people do watch what we say and do.
Having invoked St Patrick, we should imagine looking at our own migration system from his
eyes. We must make sure what we are doing matches what we are saying on the international
stage. We all know he wouldn’t be too happy about our current system of Direct provision.
It has got to go. I think he would be equally shocked at the statistics about how many asylum
requests we turn down in comparison to other countries. He would be similarly mortified
about our failure to meet our commitment to provide 0.7% of our GDP in overseas
development aid. As a country, we have benefited more than anyone else from
Globalisation. We have a special obligation to make sure the system is fair to all. We can’t
be all about low tax and big beef deals. If we are going to go all saints and scholars on
everyone, we cannot be the chancers of this world.
BREXIT
We will leave that role to the British Foreign Secretary. He and his mates seem to want to
steer Brexit towards an economic race to the bottom, which no one in the end can win. We do
have to look after our own immediate economic interests and insure hard borders never return
on our island but we also must widen the focus of the Brexit talks beyond just tariff
arrangements and the UK’s immediate divorce bill.
We have to think tactically about how we can stop the Brexit Ultras in the Tory party from
crashing the negotiations so the UK spins out of Europe in a hard-line way. They will be
defeated, not by Europe playing hardball but by opening up a strand in the talks which
considers future collaboration in areas such as energy co-operation, environmental standards,
digital rules and workers’ rights. If the Brexiters refuse to acknowledge the need to cooperate
on standards in these areas, they will have to answer to their own people as well as the
international community. If we can agree to such sensible measures then the talks get off to a
better, more trustworthy start.
The Government says the article 50 process does not allow for the holding of such
consecutive talks but there is nothing in the treaties to stop it happening. We should use our
voice at the next European Council to argue for this strategy no matter what Mr Barnier
might want to do. We should be using our MEPs in the Parliament to make the same case
and use our trusted position on both sides of the negotiations to try and make some sense out
of the mess that will otherwise ensue.
Focussing on such progressive European standards can also help us in the debate we need to
have about where the Union itself is going to go from here. We should take the best elements
from each of the five scenarios that the Commission has just presented and come up with our
own sixth scenario which presents the future union we want.
NORTH SOUTH
That process will also help us in the dialogue we now need to have about the future relations
on this island of ours. Our leader in Northern Ireland Steven Agnew has shown real
leadership in challenging the whole Brexit process. He has spoken honestly about how the
decision to leave the European Union has also fundamentally questioned the future for the
Union between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As an all-island party with
close connections to the green parties in Scotland, England and Wales, we have the chance to
set up a safe and creative space where we can come together to consider every aspect of
future relationships on this island. This September we plan to bring people together to
consider in real detail what might come next.
My vision is for an island north and south which leads the way in the transition to a greener
future. The re-election of Steven and Clare to the Northern assembly shows that there is a
constituency for such a non-sectarian and hopeful vision. Now more than ever it is time for
us to rise together to make the change happen. It is time for politics that builds consensus and
collaboration not simply looking to divide. More ‘us’ than ‘them’ as Bill Clinton reminded
everyone at Martin McGuinness’s funeral. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
NATIONAL MITIGATION PLAN
We need to rise because I am afraid the rest of the political system still sees the transition as a
cost to be avoided rather than an opportunity to be grasped.
Last week the Government published the draft National Climate Mitigation plan. I regret that
there was nothing new or ambitious in the document. In truth, you could not really call it a
plan.
ENERGY
In the area of energy we need to switch off Money point and the peat fired power plants
straight away. Substituting biomass fuels for the peat or coal makes no energy or
environmental sense. We need that wood material to heat our homes and provide energy to
process our foods. The last thing we should do is to blow two thirds of it up a power station
chimney as wasted heat.
The real issue is how we provide an alternative livelyhood to those 1000 workers in the
Midlands and West Clare who need new employment opportunities. We have been working
with ICTU and SIPTU in recent years to consider how we can make this a just transition. As
David Begg said there are no jobs on a dead planet. Likewise, there can be no green economy
unless it is one that provides proper rewards for the workers that are going to make it
happen.
We should use the money we save from not burning peat to create thousands of new jobs
helping local communities engage in the deep energy efficiency retrofitting of homes. It is a
quadruple win, reducing emissions, saving householders money, creating healthier, warmer
homes and permanent, skilled, and well paid jobs.
Let’s also start getting people working in the docks in Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Foynes,
Killybegs, Rosslare and Waterford. It is time to tap into the massive renewable energy
resources that exist off our shores. I attended the North Seas Energy Forum in Brussels this
Thursday and it is clear a fundamental change is taking place. The cost of offshore wind is
now coming down to the point where it can be competitive. With the new market rules
coming from Brussels we will not need subsidies to insure the development of the next phase
of this already tried and tested renewable technology.
The same revolution is happening with solar power. We need to start by putting photo-voltaic
panels on every south facing roof we have. The two renewable power supplies complement
each other. The sun tends to shine when the wind is less likely to blow. We should replicate
co-operative organisations like Eco power in Belgium so that people can club together to
build new generation and buy from their very own supply company.
More jobs will come in the digital industries that are going to manage our use of this variable
supply. This is the big new industrial revolution of our time. The powers that be don’t believe
in it and want to hold back for a decade. We will lose the opportunity to become technology
leaders. We will have to pay hundreds of millions of euro in fines. We will miss our chance
to shine.
TRANSPORT
In the transport sector, I regret to tell you the lack of ambition is even worse. Minister Shane
Ross does not seem to have the slightest interest in the issue. There is not a single rail based
public transport solution ready to go to tender. We are still pouring all our money into new
roads which will only make our traffic jams worse.
The national planning framework consultation document is all about bringing life back into
the centre of our cities, towns, and villages but in reality, we are doing nothing to stop the
sprawl. In Dublin, we have six great greenway projects that would transform the city but
there is no budget to get them built.
Many motorists are crying out to be able to buy an electric vehicle but holding back when
they see the tears from current EV drivers who cannot find a charging space. The ESB have
to start investing in that charging network and not give up on the ambition to turn the
company into a 100% zero carbon utility, which was the aim when the Greens were in office.
I am proud that we are going from city to city hosting meetings to consider our own
submission to the National Planning Framework. We want Light Rail for Cork. We want to
open up Limerick rail lines for commuter traffic, we have a different vision for Galway which
is not all about ring roads, roundabouts and American out of town retail parks.
WATERFORD
I look forward to the event we will hold in Waterford, to consider how we can make this city
the real capital of the south east. We will start by extending the hands of friendship across
the River Suir and invite the people of Kilkenny into a respectful debate. Both cities can
gain if we really get it right. We need to lift the whole south east. It has become one of the
poorest regions when it should be returning to be an industrial, tourism and agricultural
powerhouse.
At the heart of that recovery will be Senator Grace O'Sullivan or I hope Deputy O'Sullivan to
be. In nine short months in the Seanad she is already shaking things up. With her Civic
engagement colleagues, she is stopping the manufacture and sale of microbeads which are the
source of pernicious marine pollution. Her months of work on the wildlife bill have payed
dividends as Fianna Fail changed tack and supported her approach which will protect our
hedgerows and vulnerable bird life.
She has been a consistent voice on the water committee reflecting the policy approach we
advocated eight years ago, which most experts now recognise as being the right way to
go,. She is listening to our fishermen about what is going on in our waters and trying to work
out how we can promote more marine conservation areas and preserve stocks by supporting
small inshore boats instead of big industrial super trawlers.
LAND USE
We need a new land use plan for the whole country so we also preserve and get the best from
our soil. The Government has used up so much of our political capital in Brussels trying to
get Irish agriculture an exemption from its climate responsibilities. They don’t understand
that doing the right thing environmentally is going to be more profitable for Irish farming.
We need to expand the Burrenbeo example which has turned the whole narrative
around. Local farmers are proud to play their part in protecting biodiversity and their local
environment. We can turn rural Ireland Green.
We also need a climate plan which recognises that while we will lose some jobs from
automation we will gain many more from the development of a new circular economy. I
remember being on Dublin City Council back in 1998 when a city official tried to persuade
me to vote for incineration on the basis that Irish people would never be good at
recycling. We proved him wrong when we introduced the system of green and brown bins
that people have been happy to use.
I deeply regret that we are about to fire up the Poolbeg incinerator to burn 600,000 tonnes of
valuable material a year. I think the fact that Cork City council have failed to learn the same
lesson and are pressing ahead with another plant down in Cork Harbour is an even bigger
scandal.
HOUSING
If we are going to create low carbon communities by bringing people back towards the centre
then we need to be really good at designing public spaces. The Camphill communities in
Kilkenny are ahead of the game in this regard. They are working with the Callan Workhouse
Union to create a new residential community, which they call a ‘nimblespace’ where people
who need support are allowed to design their own individual and communal housing
areas. They have sixteen new units planned for the the town. Centred around the old
workhouse which is a thriving arts centre. It is a perfect model for the type of new mixed
housing communities we need to create. In my own constituency, I would like to see it
deployed within the new Glass Bottle Site and within the new Montrose development.
People have been asking over the last few weeks what are the blind spots we have today,
similar to the institutional injustices we tolerated in of the past. Can I suggest some of the
focus could be on the 3,000 individuals with special needs who are due to be ‘decongregated’
from existing institutional settings. I know that it will be up to the Council to make it happen
but Could we call Joe on this? Asking for his help to make sure Montrose takes a modest
number of these tenants as part of a new ‘nimblespace’ community in the heart of Dublin
4. It would give the whole country a lift with the sense that lessons can be learnt, that we are
learning how to care.
TUAM
Can I suggest we go one step further and as part of the reconciliation we need to have
regarding what happened in our Mother and baby homes. We should look at those historic
buildings that have not already been put up for sale and consider using them in a whole range
of creative ways as part of the solution to our housing crisis. Callan has shown what you can
do in old workhouse, The Respond Housing agency in Waterford are doing the same with
similar buildings. By not hiding or denying the past histories of the buildings but by turning
them around to be new housing we can all be proud of, we might in some way be better able
to become reconciled with our past.
The mothers in those institutions were put there because of a whole range of different
forces. One powerful force was surely the economic message ‘Don’t dare get
pregnant. Don’t hold onto that baby that we cannot house, clothe, educate and feed.’ We
must look after the women who still live with that past and I think they might want us to also
consider how do we treat mothers of this day.
Of course, every situation is different but perhaps the modern verse around pregnancy might
be ‘don’t you dare get pregnant until you have that degree, and that job and that house, to go
home to’ and then a last-minute panic ‘for god’s sake can you not get pregnant before it is too
late.’
Is that the country we want? Is there not a reality at the heart of our current system that we
still don’t value motherhood and caring the way we should. Could there not be one promise
to ourselves as uncover the tragic history that we have only been able to tell ourselves about
in recent years? As a marker of real change could we introduce a form of social welfare that
helps all mothers decide when and how and whether they will have a child in a less fearful
way? Free from any shame about an inability to cope with proceeding with that pregnancy.?
Free from the fear of falling behind if you do? Free from worrying about how to provide a
loving home and the basic needs that every baby requires?
We have been talking about this idea of introducing such a ‘basic income’ form of social
welfare for years. Following the close proximity of recent years some of the same thinking
seems to have brushed off on one Willie O’Dea. It is not an easy or cheap policy change and
we might need to get there in a step-by-step manner. But I do want to know what Katherine
Zappone our Minister for Children thinks. Would she be open to considering such benefits
that go to all mothers no matter how they decide to raise their children? Could that not be
one response to what was revealed in Tuam?
REPEAL THE 8TH
If we could have that discussion the same time we have the repeal the 8th debate it might
allow us find some common ground in a referendum that is surely going to divide. We will
try to minimise that division in our party. We will campaign for repealing the 8th but we will
do so in a respectful manner both to those within our own party and those outside who hold a
different view.
CONCLUSION
When it comes to every other issue I think we need to show some more fire. In a fearful
world, we have seen some beacons of home in recent months. Our Green colleagues in
Austria and Holland have risen to the challenge and provided a real alternative to the politics
of hate. We can inspire our people that a new economic approach is possible. That our
national interest is aligned with taking on our international responsibilities.
The environmental thinking we hold is too important to be held exclusively in our party. To
make the leap we will work with every other party and treat them with due respect. If they
steal our clothes, then all the better because we will have a lot more to share
The scale of the leap we need to make is immense It is time for us to rise and give it a real go.
We need the public on our side and that requires us to organise and to go out with a positive
message that I am confident will not find deaf ears.
We are the resistance and the renaissance.
Let’s go.