2012. What now for Liberty, Fraternity and Equality?

Introducing a new blog category today which draws together articles on economics, culture, justice, equality, and human rights.  

Although these blogs have a social science focus they involve subjects that are normally viewed diversely, for example defence and culture.  

Nevertheless my approach to writing and thinking about these topics  is always political and from a rights based perspective, while attempting to understand the reality and complex nature of human behaviour and how this reality shapes society.  

Legion Hall, Killester, photo courtesy Patrick Hugh Lynch M.Lit

An Bord Pleanala have now given the go ahead for developing and building on the green space in Killester.  The development involves demolishing the old Legion  Hall, known locally as the Judo Hall, and the loss of considerable green open space, and building a commercial creche.

The astonishing aspect of this planning decision is that the area is zoned amenity, we have adequate childcare in Killester, and a similar application was turned down earlier last year.  Another feature of this area is that there are established rights of way across the green space.

For full details on the planning history see planning application no 3841/10, Site at Middle Third Terrace, and Abbeyfield, Killester, Dublin 5.  This site has been the focus of much planning activity for a number of years now, residents want to keep the green space in the between Middle Third and Abbeyfield, and argue that the zoning for the area should not allow a development of this type and scale.

Legion Hall and green, winter 2011. Photo: Fionuala Lennon.

The green is at the centre of a garden village development, build in the 1920s, for soldiers returned from the First World War and their families.   The hall is believed to be the last remaining British Legion Hall in the Republic of Ireland.

Patrick Hugh Lynch completed academic research into the lives of First World War soldiers when they returned to Ireland, and his research documents the history of the housing development.  The local residents association, Killester Garden Village Residents’ Association contains more historical information.

As a City Councillor I tabled an amendment to the City Council’s Development Plan in 2004,  in recognition of the historical importance of the housing development which was built by the Soldiers and Sailors Land Trust for First World War soldiers and their families, the area known as The Demesne, Middle Third and Abbeyfield is listed as a residential conservation area in Dublin City Council’s Development Plan 2005-2011.

This issue is a matter of huge concern for many residents in the area and that is why it is crucial that the community discuss our intended response.

Speakers:

• Cllr. Dermot Lacey (Chair of the Dublin Bay Task Force)
• Bronwen Maher (Labour Party and environmental activist)
• Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD (Dublin North Central)

Chair:

• Cllr Jane Horgan-Jones (Councillor, Clontarf Ward)

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 26^th April in St. Anthony’s Hall in Clontarf at 8 p.m.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Regards,

Aodhán

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD

We won the seat, not just because we had a great candidate, but because it was very obvious to everyone involved that we had a great team of workers and supporters who participated with tremendous energy, focus and a defining sense of camaraderie.

Finding a replacement for Aodhán on Dublin City Council involved an intense campaign for all the candidates and a difficult choice for the members.

I decided not to enter the race. However I want to thank everyone who has encouraged me to put my name forward to be coopted onto Dublin City Council.  As you all know I have been involved in local, national and European politics for over 20 years now and was a city councillor for five years where I was Deputy Lord Mayor, Chair of the Dublin Regional Authority and Chair of the Dublin Bay Task Force. I had considerable success in introducing and supporting a number of positive change initiatives during my term.

I joined the Labour Party because my prime motivation in politics is for enlightened positive policy change with a focus on community, equality and environment. We have to work hard to ensure that Labour in Government fulfill the strong mandate given by the voters on polling day.  The challenge is great, given the legacy issues inherited from the last government, and the dire financial situation facing the country.

Personally, I am in the process of completing a Master’s degree in Management and recently started working for Nessa Childers MEP where I am responsible for campaign and communications in Ireland East.   And I will be active and supportive of the team, Aodhán and Jane our new councillor.  We will be busy!

Also few women stand as true independents, and independent FF and community candidates are usually male.  Independent female candidates such as Maureen O’Sullivan TD (Dublin Central) are rare; however Maureen was part of the Tony Gregory team for many years.  The exception is the European Parliament elections, where we have many strong successful independent female candidates not aligned to any party at any time.  But there again, Europe is one area where Ireland’s record on gender balance in elections has not been too bad, compared to the appalling Dáil record that is.

There is a link between the number of women members a political party has, and the percentage that go on to run and get elected.  The Labour Party, ULA and Green Party have corresponding statistics between membership and activism.  These groups have one thing in common, they are at their roots political movements, which is attractive to women who see the point of getting involved.  Which brings me to role modelling, the more women that are involved the more women will see politics as a worthwhile occupation.  The term ‘worthwhile’ is the key here, as in my experience many women just don’t believe it is a useful way to apply their energies.

Another fact is that it’s just not an issue on the ground.  In over twenty years knocking on doors, I rarely hear the issue of gender in politics raised by voters – until that situation is reversed political parties just don’t have to worry about it.  And finally we have to normalise our expectations of the role of women in politics, and stop claiming that if more women were elected all the ills of the world would be sorted out over night.  What a burden for the average intelligent women, who takes a realistic view of the task in hand when she is considering standing for election.

The authors of ‘Spirit Level’, Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, highlighted the links between equality and environmental sustainability.  Although their evidence focused on a narrow area of activity, if one looks at EU measurements on compliance it is noticeable how the equal societies identified by Wilkinson and Pickett are also good at implementing EU policy on the environment.  This theme of social justice and environment policies is developed by George Monbiot.  In his article ‘Cold Hearted’ he alerts readers to fuel poverty in the UK and makes a strong case for the need for ‘perfect synergy’ between climate change and social justice policies.

The European Environment Protection Agency 2010 report released in November also looked at the importance of linking social and green policies.  In its conclusion the report stated:  “a fully integrated approach to transforming Europe to a resource-efficient green economy can not only result in a healthy environment, but also boost prosperity and social cohesion.

These examples and realities provide evidence for the necessity of long term integration of environment, social and decision making policies.  Focusing on social and economic policies while ignoring the environmental implications will result in poor quality of life, and there is a great danger that only focusing on a narrow environmental policy agenda will result in greater unfairness. An example is imposing carbon taxes on top of existing income tax and VAT, which serves as an extra burden to the less well off, another example is when lack of public investment in public transport builds on disadvantage.

So too with policies regarding conservation areas, for with the exception of a tiny percentage of the planet’s surface, people and communities are an integral part of the natural environment.  Changing habits and practices built up over generations cannot be changed without ongoing hard work on the ground, searching for alternative sources of income and providing a renewed community identity in protecting natural heritage.  While this is difficult and time consuming work, wildlife protection plans that alieniate instead of including local populations are doomed to failure.

Downtown Reykjavik, Image from smh.com

Iceland’s parliamentarians have voted for an assembly of ordinary people who will re-write the country’s constitution, and we should follow suit says Labour Party MEP Nessa Childers.

Eamon Gilmore has already indicated that a review of our constitution will be an important feature in any Labour government and Nessa has drawn a parallel between our experience and theirs, and says we should follow Iceland’s example: “Like us, the Icelanders have endured a terrible economical and political crisis. It is time to fundamentally reassess how our state operates. A revised constitution would establish a new social contract between the state institutions and all its citizens in a process that can help us on the road to national renewal and recovery. Read full text here

The project involves Belfast, Merseyside the Isle of Man, University College Cork and the North West Development Agency in the UK, all are committed to developing a strong Irish Sea regional grouping.

A regional policy emphasising the importance of protecting marine ecology whilst developing economic links will also benefit Dublin Bay. Read more here…

The Irish Times have two welcome additions to the expenses debate, expanding the discussion beyond the individual. The first article, by Enid O’Dowd, shows that the recent review of members expenses regulations actually gives TDs and Senators more flexibility.  Noel Whelan’s article calls on public representatives to publish their outgoings to give transparency to the actual costs involved in being a member of the Oireachtas.

If there is to be any improvement in public office and service credibility, senior civil servants and politicians should submit to higher standards than the private sector.  Each year the Standards in Public Office Commission list what they believe are the necessary reforms in public office financial reporting and ethics legislation. Each year there is almost complete silence and lack of response from the Government to these requests.

Our local paper, the Northside People published an article on the Callely story. The paper sought comments from local politicians, and my quote aimed to draw reader’s attention to how poorly the public are served through this lack of financial transparency and accountability: “What this unfortunate episode has highlighted is the lack of accountability in the body politic. If the FF/GP Government is serious about reform, they should reconvene immediately and bring in legislation that brings politics into line with standards of accountability that are taken as normal in other walks of life.”