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As members of the Green Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil debate the merits of the new programme for government, the leaders of the Greens arguably have the toughest task getting the deal over the line, with two-thirds of the party’s membership needed to carry the proposal.
As the battle for the hearts and minds of the Irish green movement begins, we invited two representatives with opposing views to state their case. Green MEP Ciarán Cuffe says this is an armistice moment that must be grasped by those who believe in environmental change, while here, RISE TD for Dublin South-West, Paul Murphy, writes to Green Party members asking them to reject the deal:
DEAR GREEN Party members,
This week you will be presented with a choice: join a coalition government that props up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael or reject the programme for government and instead help build mass social movements for climate, housing and social justice.
Over the last two months, you have been subjected to growing pressure from media commentators on the necessity to enter a coalition. This will be added to by the leadership of your party in the next days. I and all RISE members urge you to resist this pressure. Don’t sell out your principles and policies for a sliver of strait-jacketed power.
This will be a hated austerity government – don’t be a mudguard for it.
One result of the February election was clear. People voted for change. That Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are now forced into a coalition shows that a fundamental break with the domination of these parties and the big business interests they represent is possible.
Outside the Leinster House bubble, people are correctly concluding that this government is an attempt by the establishment to cling on to power. Austerity, corporate welfare, and a continuation of Ireland’s tax haven status are all contained within the programme for government.
Is there any doubt that this government will very quickly become one of the most hated governments in the history of the state? Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are preparing to make your party a mudguard to deflect the blame.
Some will argue that when the Green Party entered government in 2007, they couldn’t have foreseen the 2008 Financial Crash. The same argument cannot be made now.
The programme for government is clear: they “will utilise taxation measures, as well as expenditure measures, to close the deficit…” and “will focus any tax rises on those taxes which tax behaviours with negative externalities such as carbon tax, sugar tax, plastics…” We all know this means austerity and more regressive taxes that hurt people on low incomes.
Is it worth it?
There are some measures in the programme for the government which could be pointed to as ‘victories’, such as the removal of Shannon LNG from the EU Projects of Common Interest list in 2021, the end of new licences for gas exploration (but note, no change to existing licences) and the €360 million invested in walking and cycling.
These are to a large degree the result of campaigning and pressure on these issues in the last years by environmental activists like you and from the school student strikes and Extinction Rebellion protests.
However, overall the document falls far short in actually preventing the worst excesses of climate change. By going into government your party is signing up to significant concessions on climate, on housing, on transport, on health, and even on Palestine.
The argument that it’s “worth it” wrongly assumes the Greens actually got far-reaching policies within the lifetime of this government. The programme for government is explicit that most of the emissions reductions are supposed to be achieved after this government is gone.
It says: “In the second carbon budget period [2026-2030], strong climate action will be delivered from the foundations established in the initial phase [2020-2025], enabling more significant gains in order to reach the binding average 7% per annum reduction to 2030.”
In selling the deal to the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party, Simon Coveney is reported as saying that most of the emissions reductions will come in the latter half of this decade, with “preparations” in the first half.
The same with the home retrofitting programme, there are no targets in the next five years for this government, just a target of 2030 for 500,000 homes. Do you really think the coming recession won’t be used to delay action, as it was before?
On top of that are the highly regressive increases in carbon tax. The fee and dividend model, which could have at least helped soften the blow for working families, has now been ditched. Even the revenue it raises is not ring-fenced fully for environmental measures. Worse yet, these tax hikes will correctly be viewed as an eco-austerity measure by workers and will seriously discredit and damage the climate justice movement.
Setting back the environmental movement
The harm they do politically cannot be overstated. We urgently need to build a powerful climate justice movement, in every community and every workplace, and we are way behind schedule. This work is tremendously impeded whenever environmental policy comes (or is seen to come) at the cost of working families.
The ‘green wave’ was based on growing concern about climate change – this hasn’t gone away. The huge protest movements seen over the last number of years will undoubtedly re-emerge.
From student climate strikes to Extinction Rebellion, the demands of the movement, in line with the science, have moved beyond small incremental, individual-focused change. ‘System change, not climate change’ is now the rallying cry.
As we saw with Repeal the 8th, Marriage Equality, and the anti-water demonstrations, mass social movements are what will force radical climate action onto the agenda. It’s precisely why climate action is even being seriously discussed at all.
The neoliberal approach to climate action, demanded by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and backed by your current party leaders will act to turn people away from the climate movement rather than towards it. Green activists will be forced to defend eco-austerity and play the role of dampening down expectations.
Crisis in society unresolved
This programme for government will also not resolve the many crises faced by ordinary people in society. The measures to deal with the housing crisis fall far short of what is needed. In fact, the policies proposed are just a continuation of the last government’s failed ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ plan.
That plan aimed for 47,000 extra social houses, this plan promises 50,000. But they are actually proposing to build only “a majority” of those over the next five years, which I believe would only mean 5,000 a year. This is a pittance compared to what the state built in the past and what is needed to end the housing emergency.
The Green Party negotiators failed to get any commitments on the percentage of social and affordable housing on public land and also failed in their bid to get a cap on developers’ profits when building on public land.
Combined with the failure to bring in a permanent ban on economic evictions, or a rent freeze and proper rent controls, it means the housing crisis will continue.
Instead of tackling the root cause of the housing crisis, your party will be helping developers enrich themselves with the expansion of the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme, which is really about using public money to prop up property prices.
As with housing, so it will be with the health system. Instead of ending the two-tier health system and creating an Irish National Health Service, the programme for government envisions a return to ‘normal’. There are no numerical targets for any of the supposed improvements promised and the programme actually increases the reliance on the private health sector.
There is an alternative
You don’t have prop up and greenwash Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. There is an alternative. Reject the deal, join with the Left in the Dáil and help build the movements on the streets, in communities and workplaces.
Remember that the right-wing governments have been forced under pressure of movements to repeal the 8th and legislate for abortion rights, to introduce marriage equality and to abolish the water charges.
Together, we can build successful movements to fight for radical measures to tackle the climate crisis and to improve people’s lives. In doing so, we will be preparing the way for a left government that would act in the interests of working families and young people, implement a socialist Green New Deal that would raise living standards and make environmentally-friendly decisions easy, rather than implementing eco-austerity.
What James Connolly wrote in 1909 has enormous relevance to Green Party members wrestling with how to vote on this deal today:
Moral – Don’t be ‘practical’ in politics. To be practical in that sense means that you have schooled yourself to think along the lines, and in the grooves those who rob you would desire you to think.
The urgency of the climate crisis is not a reason to be ‘practical’ and settle for the illusion of influence. It is a reason to join with the left and build a political and social movement to deliver the change the science demands.
Paul Murphy is a RISE TD for Dublin South-West, part of the Solidarity – People Before Profit grouping in the Dáil. You can read the full programme for government here.
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Maybe they should look at their whole wage structure and cut all the wages – considering their losing money and that’s what everyone else in the country had to do since 2008
@The Red Devil: Switch to PPV, see how much they are worth.
@The Red Devil:
RTE already implemented massive pay cuts across all staff in (I think) 2015. Shockingly, Tubrity’s wage was over 250k higher than it is now
@The Red Devil: they will prob do the opposite and up the wages
@Nick Allen: holy shit!
@Nick Allen: worth every shilling
@Nick Allen:
It’s the upping of the TV licence to cover there shortfalls – wrapped up as a broadcasting charge or some crap or other – so none of them loose money money
@The Red Devil:
Nothing to do with wage inequality-everybody deserves a fair wage for doing equal jobs
Just don’t want Joe public having there TV licence increased – which has funnily enough been talked about – to cover the company losing money and the high wages
Hopefully this will mean a 60-80k pay cut for Dobson rather than a 60-80k pay rise for Sharon
@Goose Gosling:
No because private broadcasters would be willing to pay that much for Dobson. They most certainly won’t pay that much for Sharon. How do i know this? Because she’d be working in the private sector right now if they were.
@Fred Jensen: men have larger brains than women so they should be on more.
What private broadcasters would that be then Fred?
@Goose Gosling: he’s retiring isn’t he.
@Fred Jensen: You have no idea what if anything private broadcasters would be willing to pay for Dobson. Given the distinct lack of high paid RTE employees leaving to work elsewhere I’d say it’s a safe bet that they are paid above their worth.
@Rochelle:
I know they’d be willing to pay more for Dobson than for Sharon. Do you agree or want to pretend that’s not the case?
@Hello there friend: stay classy hello
Marion Finucane is the highest paid for hours worked, earning more than Sean O’ Rourke. And isn’t Dobson head of the RTÉ newsroom now?
Are we seriously suggesting presenters of magazine and lifestyle shows be paid the same as serious broadcast journalists who have to research and work to a far higher standard?
@Niall Sullivan: If she’s a woman, then it seems yes is the answer to your question.
@Niall Sullivan: Pat Kenny went and got himself a million quid a year at Newstalk – at least according to media reports. He hasn’t achieved the audience share one would have expected though.
@Niall Sullivan: are you saying that RTÉ is the rare organisation in the world where the higher up the ladder you climb the more work you do?
@Niall Sullivan: Presenters should not be heads of departments.
@Cindy Crawford: why? In most radio stations private or state funded the programme controller – boss of on air staff – is a presenter themselves.
@Niall Sullivan: Sharon Ni Bheolàn presents the news, not a lifestyle show.
@Niall Sullivan: RTE is like a lot of state funded institutions. Top heavy management with grossly inflated wages. I’m sure there are people in non presenter rolls in RTE who can be the head of the news room. Also there should be impartiality.
@Niall Sullivan: should a music DJ be paid as much as a broadcast journalist? No, they shouldn’t. Totally different skill set. Totally different job. On very rare exception you may find a music DJ with a huge following who commands a comparable fee to one of the household-name broadcast journalists, but I can’t think of a single one in Ireland. We operate in Ireland on talk radio and current affairs. They are the crowd pleasing shows that command the biggest audiences daily. It’s not daytime tv, or late night radio. What are the presenters, name and female paid on morning Ireland? That show would be a fair measurement – but little else would.
@Cindy Crawford: dobson is her boss and has more responsibility. Did you purposely miss that point I made? Should she be paid the same as her boss simply because she’s a woman?
@Niall Sullivan: No i obviously did not purposely miss that point as i stated that presenters should not be heads of departments. Did you purposely miss that point? No you did not because you asked me why not.
@Cindy Crawford: and you have absolutely no train why presenters shouldn’t be heads of departments
@Niall Sullivan: serious broadcast journalists hahahahahhahahahahahahahhahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
@Niall Sullivan:research and work to a higher standard hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
@Niall Sullivan. I’ve told you there should be impartiality. Imagine if i was working alongside my boss & i wasn’t happy with her work.
@Niall Sullivan: Marian Finucane is a bit more than a “lifestyle/magazine” show presenter, to be fair (has done some important documentary work on serious social issues, including abortion.) Don’t know how much work goes into producing four hours of radio, but pay for a lot of the senior personalities in RTE seems way too high. (I maintain Tubridy is the worst offender.)
As for SNB, as Dobson’s co-anchor I think she should be earning the same as him.
@Cindy Crawford: I have to say working alongside your boss happens all the time
@B Collins: if they do equal work, of course they should be paid the same.
but if Dobson is the head of the dept as referenced above, then he should be paid more
@B Collins: B Collins. I never said she was a lifestyle/magazine presenter. She’s a broadcast journalist, and a very well paid one. The best paid in Ireland in fact. Miriam O’ Callaghan earns in excess of 250k also. Again, a broadcast journalist and that’s the same as Sean O’ Rourke’s earnings.
But why should SNB be paid the same as Dobson when he’s head of news with more responsibility and also more credibility. SNB is a lightweight interviewer.. If both left and headed for the private sector Dobson would be paid more. He may also have additional contractual obligations…ie…be on call to cover for others or be under contract to do more air-time.
@Niall Sullivan: She’s easily replaceable. He’s not.
@Cindy Crawford: She reads from an autocue.
Equal pay for equal work is not such an easy concept, when you consider the cost of getting someone in the first place (think of headhunted people vs those in a company for years), and also, in media (particularly current affairs), the gravitas which a person brings. I’m not passing judgement on either of the presenters referred to, but doing the same work (presenting a news programme) is not the same as being the presenter with the most intellect, respect, trustworthiness, and general ability etc. A female colleague should not be paid the same as me simply for doing the same job as me, if she’s better she should be paid more. The opposite is also true.
@Dr Richard DeWitt: How do you know he’s better her when they’re reading from a script. Do you think that people would stop watching the news if Dobson was not presenting it. I personally don’t like his interviewing techniques where he constantly badgers & interrupts interviewees unless they’re the Taoiseach, in which case he fawns.
@Cindy Crawford: In fairness he has years of experience above her. It isn’t about gender but how years of public trust in Dobson built up over the years.
They are taking a pay gap out of context and saying it is over gender.
@Cindy Crawford:
I think you can tell Dobson is better when they have to interview people and Sharon can no longer read from her autocue….
@ Kal Ipers: Years of experience does not necessarily mean he is better than her. I agree that there are cases where women should not be paid the same as men. Case in point being tennis where women are paid the same prize money at Wimbledon as the men even though they don’t always play the same number of sets.
@Cindy Crawford: I never mentioned anything about being better did I? A loyal following and a trust from the public has value. He could have left RTE years ago bit was loyal and became the main voice on daily TV news. That all has value which she hasn’t earned.
Surely she should get paid more than Marian just by virtue she works more hours too! In media you get paid more based on popularity and length of service
@Fred Jensen: I don’t consider an interviewer to be good when they ask a question but won’t listen to the answer. Dobson normally interrupts & badgers interviewees but i saw him interviewing Enda Kenny & he allowd him to speak almost uninterrupted. When he did attempt to butt in once he was almost deferential. Impartial much?
@Kal Ipers: It remains to be seen whether the listenership drops if & when Dobson leaves. I don’t watch the news because of a particular presenter.
@One more point on Dobson. Do you think he became the main voice on daily TV news because the public requested him to be. No, i’d hazard a guess it was because he kissed the a$$ of someone with more power than him in RTE. The same as he practically kissed Enda Kenny’s a$$
@Cindy Crawford: isn’t that how most people (men or women) get top jobs?
do you think anne doyle did the same?
@Cindy Crawford: Gerry Ryan was paid big money and when he died listening figures dropped off proving he was worth the money. He had said he was the draw to the show and was proven right.
With some shows or programs the time slot and place on the dial is worth the money. Stability on news is important and Dobson has the top news presenter slot so deserves the money
@gipb: Ann could well have done the same. The point is you don’t have to be better at the job. Just better at kissing a$$. No wonder i’m poorly paid.
@Cindy Crawford: I agree 100%. unfortunately that is always the way and probably always will be.
see it in my own company where there are both males and females progressing due to who they know and are paid a lot more than they should be!
@Dr Richard DeWitt: that’s a commission situation you’re describing and is an agreement entered into between employer and employee. Flat salaries are paid to the same people doing the same job, and they’re not hired unless they possess the skills to do it. Bringing gravitas or having “intellect” are rather subjective descriptions and opinions as to who possesses more will vary according to who’s judging it.
@Cindy Crawford: Sharon does the same….badgers etc…..
108 million average per year just for salaries not including pensions perks etc there’s your problem! Not to mention the fact that the stations are pure sh&$te
Not fit for purpose. Sell it off.
Who has worked there longer, Sharon or Dobson?
@50 Pence: where is the band for 250k plus on the chart ?
Sharon Ní Bheoláin is also less experienced and less capable of high level political interviews than Dobbo is. RTE are getting what they pay for, ie they get more with Dobson but he costs more too. I wonder who the private broadcasters would pick if they had to pick one of them!! It’s a market, just like any other.
Sick of this bandwagon jumping by what are already very priviledged and overpaid women. And they have the gall to pretend they’re doing this on behalf of society, rather than looking for a massive pay rise for themselves. You’re not fooling anyone ladies!
The €150 to €250k braket is fairly vague isnt it?
Journal commenters taking particular issue with women’s issues as always.
@Fox: No surprises here. They’re like clockwork, it’s fascinating.
@Fox: Suggesting that women should be paid the same as men when they have been in the job for much less time is a men’s issue, obviously
@Veronica: bit like yourself Veronica.
@Fox: Sorry about that I am sure Irish Times comment section is above reproach on all such issues….Perhaps try there….
@Fox:
Yeah, because everything that results in a massive pay rise for women is justified and if you oppose this you’re a bigot and indeed a Nazi.
I wondere if the male presenter of Prime Time is paid as much as Miriam?
@Fox: I’m not talking simply about wage equality, it’s anything that seems to support women. Always results in a very strong negative reaction, it’s funny really.
@Fox:
You mean “support” women in their shameless and opportunistic money grab by leveraging off trendy gender rights to get themselves unjustified equal pay with men who are more experienced, capable and valued in the market?
Pat Kenny called himself and ordinary Joe soap on radio this morning. About time he was paid like an ordinary Joe soap
So Dobson is due a pay cut then?
@tottkingham: RTE has this while been looking for any excuse to raise the TV licence, this is a good excuse to?
Well who could in all honesty refuse them a licence fee increase now….If the money is used to pay all the female stars same as the men….
Pay Per View and see what happens.
Yeah,big wage cuts required.every business has to do it.
Oh sharon!yum!
847 employees at 40-50k is that correct?
This will be hilarious….. hold on till I grab a coffee brb
I’ll sell ya a kidney. I’m making pies at the moment and will just have to do with the steak if I sell the kidneys but I can replace them with mushrooms grown in first class organic BS.
Now we know why Sharon always wears black on Tv
She’s is mourning her salary
That’s 48 million average ? Per year?
I think it was just salary criticisms in general. As in everybody.
No chance they’ll pull the government’s trick and creat equal pay by reducing the lads wages down to what the girls earn.
A correct comparison would be with TV3 salaries structure.But that will not happen with the montrose royal family. They have the bonus of the ridiculous tv license fee along with commercial advertising.And still taking in more water than the titanic! Good job the political junta back it for programmes like non events in the Dail today and the magic budget programmes 2018 from the drinks share minister for finance and overpriced stout and whiskey what he has up his sleeve.RTE what it means to be Oirish and dancing at the crossroads!
That Dobson guy is a plank. He gets paid a whopper of a salary for just reading from a teleprompter. He produces nothing. I know if I was getting paid that for reading text I would be laughing my backside off.
@Kevin McCarthy: in fairness I saw him at the Convention Centre in an MC type role in front of about 1000 people doing the Turbidy type Q&A hosting thing. He handled it well I thought
What about the reality gap, between RTE salaries and the real world of the people who pay for th service?
A lot of young journalists would READ th news for a quarter of Dobson’s salary.
There are two ideas of thought if you think you are underpaid do to sexism, racism, religionism or that your just a white dude who feels undervalued.
1) leave current employer and get what you think you should be paid on the open market.
2) you think open market is sexist or racist or religionist or whatever (white dude unfortunately nothing here for you) then need to question why capitalist profit hungry corporations would not employ cheaper labour if it’s of the same talent?
Hmmm the timing of this interesting just recently RTÉ were looking for a hike in tv license fees
I don’t see why women should be paid the same as men,ridiculous
So what are they getting paid ? And if they are getting too much just drop their wages
Do I care if one over paid talking head is paid more than another one. No I don’t.
What should transgenders get paid ? Just asking ..
It must have been a interesting news program this evening
Here we are a small little Country and along with the Political 166 members ripping of the Tax payer Now RTE are doing the same no person is worth these types of salaries with the amount of Homeless people in our Country
Should of never let them burn their bra’s
A wise man once said. During your lifetime you might need the services of a doctor or a preacher but three times a day every day we need the services of a farmer. Is it not time we pulled these people from their ivory towers and let them know we don’t need them to survive.
Hello!
The person who is best for a job, any job, is the person who should get the job.
NO ONE should be given a job just to balance the crazy ideology of the fad called ‘gender equality’!!!
No one should insinuate, promote or encourage the giving of jobs to women solely on the basis that we’re female. If we’re good enough for a job give it to us, if we’re not, we’re man enough to take it on the chin! He he he he he !
have your say