The Irish Green Party have just left the Fianna Fail government, triggering a snap General Election.
When they first went into government, I insisted that the Green Party of England and Wales not congratulate them on this.
I was aware that Fianna Fail were a party wrapped up in corrupt land deals and I felt it was very wrong for Greens to support a government pushing through a motorway at Tara, Ireland's most important prehistoric landscape.
There was broad agreement and concern with my stance from senior members of the GPEW.
None of us knew though the catastrophe that would result.
Ireland has been all but destroyed financially and the Greens did nothing to avoid catastrophe, just bought into low corporation tax and deregulation.
I have got strong family and friend and political contacts with Ireland and one of my friends who works in Galway who was over here last week told me that the Irish Green Party had wrecked the environmental agenda.
Sadly many of the senior members of the Irish Green Party will get through the wreckage with well paid jobs.
Never ever trust politicians, we have seen how protest movements are infiltratrated by cops, noble political parties are infiltrated by those who put career, what they wrongly call 'power', before politics.
We need protest and we need political parties to go beyond protest and change things, but a little caution is necessary.
While I am disturbed by their 'neither left nor right' strap line....I am pleased that Fis Nua are contesting the Irish elections and I have been very proud to work with Cllr Pat Kavanagh who left the Greens to set up this new project.
Love this from Fis Nua!
Before NAMA the Irish people were told that if we did not accept NAMA we would have massive unemployment. We now have NAMA and massive unemployment.
Before NAMA the Irish people were told that if we did not accept NAMA we would see massive emigration. We have NAMA and massive emigration.
Before NAMA the Irish people were told that if we did not accept NAMA we would have to pay massive interest on loans to sustain the economy. We now have NAMA and we pay an interest rate three times higher than Germany… on loans to sustain our economy.
Before NAMA we were told that if we did not accept NAMA we would have no international credibility. With a repeatedly downgraded credit rating, and images of our former Taoiseach crouched in a wardrobe drinking tea in an advertisement for the News of The World…, or the spectacle of a drunk or hung-over Brian Cowen speaking on national radio… We have little international credibility to boast of.
Loyalty to Green Politics can sometimes mean harshly criticising Green Parties when they go wrong.
John Gormley and Mark Stone, brothers in arms if you ask me, self-interest trumps care for the next generation...Green politics has been destroyed by the Irish Greens.
5 comments:
More power to the Greens! But Ireland will still have to face up to horrific cuts! On an international level read my blog on GM foods at, http://www.tolpuddlemartyr.blogspot.com
I'm not surprised that the Irish greens take the slogan 'neither left nor right'. I don't think that environmentalist parties and campaigns around the world are intrinsically socialist, although some choose or claim to be from one socialist tradition or other. I believe the Czech green party is conservative in outlook.
Yes James you have to fight for socialist ideas, there is a new left green party in Czech republic.
How big is the left within the environmental movement generally? Is it Marxist in outlook, or does it tend towards other traditions, for instance anarchism? It often seems like the latter to me. Do you think the lack of ideology is a symptom of the Irish Green Party's apparent opportunism, or is it the cause?
What a sad ending to a green dream. Indeed, politicians can't be trusted except for a very few who are good. You just have to choose more wisely next time.
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