Green Party not interested in ‘same old’ Government Cork North West election candidate Colette Finn challenges FG to live up to climate change and gender equality commitments
THE Green Party is not interested in going into government “if it’s the same old, same old.”
That was the sharply worded warning from Colette Finn, the Green Party’s candidate in Cork North West, as she spoke to The Corkman this week while the inter-party negotiations between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and her own party about the formation of a new government moved into a critical phase.
According to Councillor Finn, a member of Cork City Council, Fine Gael has in the past signed up to commitments to reduce carbon emissions by 7% annually but has not followed through on meeting these commitments.
“When they signed up to this in the Paris Agreement in 2015, the Green Party wasn’t forcing them to, they signed up to it and when they returned, they didn’t meet those commitments.
“In 1985, the party said they would do something to improve the situation of women in Fine Gael, to give them a more frontline role.
“In the Seanad elections in 2020, not one woman was elected among the 12 Fine Gael senators – that was the opportunity for FG politicians to choose women and the result tells its own story.
“If Fine Gael signs up to do something, they need to follow through and do it and they need to be honest about it,” said Cllr Finn.
“There is no Planet B,” she said, adding that the current COVID-19 pandemic situation was reminding us that we can work together in a cooperative way for a greater goal.
“If we don’t act now on climate change, it’s not us who will pay but our children’s children and succeeding generations.”
The comments from Cllr Finn underline that misgivings about entering into a tripartite coalition involving the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are not confined to members of FF and FG.
At the weekend, Michael Creed, the Cork North West TD and Agriculture Minister, suggested that the Green Party’s pursuit of the 7% target for the annual reduction of carbon emissions was for ‘political expediency’ and suggested that some targets would be ‘particularly problematic’ for agriculture.
Cllr Finn pointed out that there are many farmers who are members of the Green Party who understand and support the party’s position on issues such as the excessive use of insecticides and the wanton destruction of hedgerows.
“They feel that these processes are killing the goose that lays the golden egg and, in fact, endangering agriculture.”
One issue that is likely to be a bone of contention between the Greens and the other parties involved in negotiations is the development of the M20 corridor between Cork and Limerick and taking in Mallow and Charleville.
Before the February election Green Party leader Eamon Ryan suggested serious consideration should be given to the route connecting Cork and Limerick via Cahir.
While the Cork/Mallow/ Charleville corridor was confirmed by Limerick County Council, the lead local authority on the €1.2 billion project, shortly after the election, the entire project appears to be on the table in the ongoing negotiations.
“The country is in the midst of a recession, the scale of which we are unsure of,” said Cllr Finn, who added that while the party doesn’t underestimate the importance of the project to people in the region, every project was now ‘ under scrutiny’. She pointed out that the party’s current transport spokesperson, Fingal TD Joe O’Brien, grew up beside the M20 route.
“The Green Party manifesto has commitment to shifting the capital expenditure on transport infrastructure towards public transport options.
“Public transport has been completely neglected and it needs investment.”
She pointed to a statement from the Transport spokesman in which Deputy O’Brien said: “I think we would be wise to examine ways of making the N20 faster and safer while also looking at improving public transport infrastructure within the cities of Cork and Limerick.”
The councillor has also suggested a local currency which she believes would complement the existing currency when, in a time of crisis, the supply of money is likely to get considerably tighter.
Describing it as a ‘co-operative currency’, Councillor Finn said that while there may be “mountains of cash” about, this isn’t trickling down to local businesses as it appears to have “stopped mid flow.”
“What I’m proposing is something that would work at a local level and it would necessitate a high degree of trust and it would be mainly about the exchange of services.
“These ideas have also worked elsewhere - we would have to develop mechanisms to make them work for us.”
She pointed to the LECS system in West Cork which, she said, depended on a coincidence of needs while she spoke of companies like Guinness who, in the 1980s, developed its own system of ‘currency’, which involved issuing IOUs.
“This would be a stop gap measure as we know people will revert to money when it’s available.”
She pointed to other possibilities which might become increasingly likely as the COVID-19 recession begins to bite into the provision of local services and facilities.
“Some people are actually not spending money during this time and may have more than they thought they would – they might be interested, for instance, in investing in the provision of a local playground which would be a community benefit.”
The underlying principle of Cllr Finn’s green politics is that for too long society has allowed certain practices to continue, practices which have a devastating impact on the environment, and that now this approach will have to reconsidered.