Greens have a head start on recycling - of FF pledges
THE Greens brought a shopping trolley to the Fianna Fail hypermarket.
A small reusable plastic bag would have been adequate to hold the tiny basket of recycled Fianna Fail goodies they got in exchange for getting two jobs there.
Most of the goods are secondhand, some have already been announced, others are actually in train.
Much is already in the FF pipeline and promised without the Greens.
But the Greens were not allowed to touch some of the key items in the hypermarket. Fianna Fail held on to incineration, the fluoridation of tap-water supplies, and the completion of the M3 motorway via the Hill of Tara valley and the full motorway/dual-carriageway programme.
The Greens insist they extracted the promise of a carbon tax to reduce fossil-fuel use - a measure already thrown out by Fianna Fail because of the impact it would have on the poorer sections of society.
When will we have this tax on petrol, home heating oil and coal? It is not specified. Don't hold your breath.
Remember, the same carbon tax was promised by Fianna Fail last time out, but as soon as Martin Cullen left the Custom House, new arrival Dick Roche promply dumped it in his bin (possibly to recycle for the Greens).
When you strip away all the packaging, there is little left that is not already promised by Fianna Fail.
Take the Climate Change Commission. Sounds great, but it was announced by Dick Roche during the election campaign.
Okay, but what about the promise of a Dublin Transport Authority? Sorry, also already announced. In fact its chief executive has just been appointed.
Well there's the re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor, the Navan Rail line and the possibility of Luas-style services in other cities.
Again, all announced by the last Fianna Fail-controlled government and contained in its Transport 21 plan.
On energy, there is the promise of dramatic acceleration in the growth of renewable energy sources in the electricity, heat and transport sectors.
The Greens are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a third of all electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020.
One Noel Dempsey, the last energy minister and a key negotiator in the Greens/FF talks, already has that one in the bag and announced his party's death-bed conversion to these green policies with great fanfare at Government Buildings.
What about the pledge to have all road projects evaluated for environmental concerns Surely that's a radical one for the Greens?
Actually, the National Roads Authority and Bord Pleanala are already duty-bound to place a high priority on environmental impacts when it considers building new roads. Over €100m was spent on archaeological digs in the M50 debacle at the Carrickmines site and other heritage road battlegrounds.
Then there's the environmental legislation which would require the climate-change emissions effect of official air travel to be offset by green measures. Sounds good and green.
Eh, not new either. This measure was specifically introduced by Messrs Dempsey and Roche when they laid out their strategy to save the planet.
There is a pledge to reform local government to make it more transparent and more responsive to the public it serves.
A Green Paper on local government reform will be published within six months which will examine the balance of power at local level between managers and elected representatives; the issue of directly elected mayors; and the creation of town councils in towns that have grown significantly in recent years.
There is nothing like a Green Paper to change the lives of the everyday punter.
Directly elected mayors for Dublin are promised by 2011 as well as a review of local government legislation to ensure the decision-making processes in local authorities are rebalanced in favour of elected representatives. In practical terms this means that the councils, still controlled by Fianna Fail and Fail Gael, will have greater powers to rezone land for housing developments in the absence of adequate sewage, water or public transport with councillors thumbing their noses at planners.
Hardly something for the Greens to boast about.
WE'RE told the ESB will be asked to introduce smart meters in all homes so that householders can better control the amount of electricity they use. Old hat, already planned.
Add in a raft of reviews, commissions, Green papers, taskforces. Shorthand for doing nothing but taking a long time to do it. That's Government for you.
Recycling is a cornerstone of Green policy. They walked away with a basket of recycled promises.
But with the prospect of two seats at Cabinet, a case could be made that they had a much better opportunity of pushing the environmental agenda from inside the tent. It was a case of the pragmatist Greens versus the old guard.
The alternative to government was continuing to be a protest party hurling insults at Fianna Fail on, as John Gormley calls it, Planet Bertie.
