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LORNA BOGUE AND Diarmuid Burke would freely admit they didn’t join the Green Party out of any major ideologically loyalty.
“It was a process of elimination,” they both say, pouring scorn on all of the main political parties. But that doesn’t mean they’re not passionate and excited about what the Greens are doing post-2011 election wipeout.
Bogue, 23, is chair of the Young Greens while Burke, 22, is the branch co-ordinator for the youth wing of the former government party.
Young Greens, which is an all-Ireland organisation, has a small but not insignificant membership of around 100 and lots of influence when it comes to the Green Party national executive.
“Last year has seen a huge growth spurt,” Burke said.
Bogue, who has a degree in Irish Music and Dance, explained that she was “not political at all” in college, but decided to get involved for one simple reason:
I wanted to get involved in politics because I’m just kind of tired of middle-aged men pissing away my future all the time. So last summer I was like ‘alright, I’ll get involved’. I’d sat on the sidelines long enough, I’d shouted at the TV long enough, so I got involved.
She believes Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are “pretty much the same” and ended her involvement with Labour – part of her “misguided political youth” – after the Savita Halappanavar case.
She said the party was dismissive of her concerns in a letter so she joined the Greens last year and was elected chair of the Young Greens a few months later.
Burke was born in Limerick, but has lived in Dublin for most of his life. He is currently doing a masters in political communications in DCU and got involved with the Greens a couple of summers ago.
Neither voted for the Greens in the last election and both were pretty disgusted at the last government. But they realised that the Greens were responsible for some policies they actually agreed with, citing civil partnerships in particular. Burke explains:
Like Lorna I didn’t vote for them in 2011 because I wasn’t happy with a lot of decisions that that government had taken. I’d only just been able to vote, and maybe I wasn’t aware of what the Greens were doing in government. I hated Fianna Fáil. I’d always hated Fianna Fáil, so I felt angry at he Greens for getting in with Fianna Fáil.
He said that the Greens in government “deal with the unsexy things, the things that don’t win votes” saying the party had a willingness to tackle unpopular issues.
Both see the party as occupying the unpopular ground and not being too concerned about votes, but that’s a good thing, Bogue claims.
I am sick of gombeen politics. I don’t want to be part of it.
Bogue said that people who view the Greens as a single-issue party can be convinced of its merits. She cites a recent meeting with farmers, a traditionally anti-Green group.
I think they were half expecting me to pull out a ‘meat is murder’ sign but after chatting to them, they were much more willing to sort of accept that we weren’t out to get them. That we’re not just about the environment.
On their own political ambitions, Bogue said she may run for the party in Dan Boyle’s old seat in Cork South-Central at the next election, but added that it will be up to the selection convention to decide.
Burke, said that the more involved he’s become in politics the less inclined he is to run.
He’s focused on setting up more Young Greens branches in colleges around the country and is desperate for the party to get 2 per cent at the next election so as it will receive some state funding.
“The party is essentially running on fumes, donations and savings,” he added.
The Green Party annual conference takes place in Kilkenny tonight and all-day tomorrow.
More details here and the conference brochure and agenda is here.
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I voted Green for a long long time. When they eventually got in their solution to things were to impose more tax on essential s like heating oil (in the middle of the worst winter in living memory). Taxing essential’s doesn’t mean you can cut back. It means you pay more for less. That is their legacy. Green party lost my vote forever. I naively expected more from them.
All those middle aged pissers were, at one stage, pretentious and annoying little fvckers like these. Spouting the same soap box drivel. Her degree will stand to her when she’s dancing a jig for Brussels like the rest of them.
Con, I was trying to put together a stinging rebuke to these two nobodies but you put it better than I ever could. Hopefully when reality of life and economics hits them when they mature a little more, they will cringe at what they are now saying.
That’s the attitude, Con and John. Why do these guys think they are, anyway? Sticking their heads up above the parapet! Do they think they’re better than the rest of us?
Come on! If we all pile on, we can kick the youthful enthusiasm out of them.
Then we’ll all feel better, right?
“Bogue, who has a degree in Irish Music and Dance.” That’s where I switched off.
Two new graduates of the the ‘green schools youth brainwashing program’ at all schools nationwide.
I’d give them a chance. They may be idealistic but we live in hope. They can’t do any worse than the current incompetent unqualified bunch of muppets we’ve got. I’m sick of them constantly pissing away my money too, and the sooner they’re gone the better.
Bring on the next election and that’ll expose all of kennys weaknesses, can’t talk, can’t debate, can’t negotiate etc…
Sorry about that Oliver. Completely over the top by myself. If you give me your email address I can send you on any comment I intend to make for your assessment. Please forgive the 40 plus years of listening to lies, vacuous promises and pie in the sky dreaming from talentless guffers. If you join a political party, it’s not to change the world..it’s to get power. Power I tell ya!
> Please forgive the 40 plus years of listening to lies, vacuous promises and pie in the sky dreaming from talentless guffers.
I’m with you on that. But we’re not going to get anything more if our first reaction is to put the boot into anyone who steps up. That’s nothing more than a sure fire way to put off people who have sufficient talent that they can put to some other use.
And who will we be left with then?
Well Oliver if they do not even know the history of their own party and the reprecussions of its past policy they should keep their heads down and mouths shut before giving out to about others!
Oliver are you trying to use reason?..On an internet comment section? Where the cross party insults are thrown with all the gusto of a late evening, drunken, Dàil Eireann voting extravaganza? Where the word troll is used more often than in a Norwegian fairy tale, told by a slightly sinister grandmother?
Where pseudo-intellectual clap trap is foistered by the little known and seldom heard?
Again my apologies, Oliver…I will avoid the trolls, calling trolls, trolls. Troll la la la la la.
Foisted*
i am in the middle of reading Naomi Klein’s book “This Changes Everything, the Climate Vs Capitalism”. I would recommend every negative commentator and those who liked their comments to read it and get some perspective. the last time we had this much carbon in our atmosphere our sea levels were 20m higher than they are now, a lump of ice is irreversibly breaking off the antarctic the size of France that will raise our sea levels by 3 to 5metres. The Greens are the only party looking to the long term.
They did not cause the economic crisis but had to deal with it and as has been seen by what is now happening to the Greeks no left wing gov would have done anything different, even if there had not been a bank guarantee and we had somehow saved the banking system we still had a 24 billion a year budget deficit thanks to the neo liberal free market policies of the FF/PD gov.
The Greens did more for the environment than any party in the history of this state. car emissions dropped by 25% thanks to the new taxing of cars for carbon, the carbon tax that you are all giving out about was used for the insulation grants they set up created hundreds if not thousands of jobs and will save billions in heating bills, the FG/Labour gov cut back these grants but still took in the carbon tax money. the insulation and necessity for a renewable source of energy in every house will save anyone who has bought or built a house since 2008 hundreds in their heating bills but most people who are benefiting from this don’t realize that they have the greens to thank for this. this is what differentiates the greens from everyone else their policies are not for their core vote as is often the case with left/right wing parties, their policies are for the good of everyone and future generations.
If they had not had to deal with the greatest economic crisis this country has ever had the policies that they brought in on a number of issues would be seen as very progressive but hey i might as well be talking to the wall with many of you. what annoys me most is that some of the angriest people either voted for FF during the boom years or worse still did not vote at all and did not and may still not get involved in politics just sit on your computers being cynical, cynicism is easy getting up and taking a stand is far more difficult. the greens would have gone in with a left wing party in 2007 if they had 78 seats like FF did and they may well do that in the future. my preference would be a green/left coalition that serves the planet and the poor but there will never be a utopian 4 day working week where everyone has homes and the rich pay their fair share of taxes like in the Nordic countries if the planet is dying.
nothing that we count as important now will be looked upon as important for future generations they will only wonder why was not enough done to prevent the climate and resource catastrophe that we know is happening. my impression of the future and its being backed up by the moronic comments on this thread is that future generations will have to live on boats because all available land above water will be required to grow our food, this should put things in perspective but planning for the future has never been a good trait for Irish people or the human race in general.
@Marcus – Thank you for the Green party political broadcast on behalf of the new Communism. You wrote…
“the last time we had this much carbon in our atmosphere our sea levels were 20m higher than they are now”
Oh really…Can you specifically show me your reference for that?…or did you get it from Al Gore’s science fiction movie.
You can’t be real ! Or you work for the Green Party , to write a comment that long at the time it took to write and dream up that long winded comment you must work for the Green Party . How can you say they helped us when they were in power as in your own words during a crisis , they put more taxes extra costs in each day living expenses and you say it was for the good of the nation , carbon emissions were reduced due to new models cars Irish people bought when we worked every day and had a few quid in our pockets , and the bike to work bull , try live in the country side and bike to dublin or nearest town to get public transport as Green Party cut all bus routes !!! By the I wrote this long comment laying in bed on my day of
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/
here are the facts The Dude people like you will and your climate change denying buddies will be the reason humanity and the planet slowly dies but hey at least you will be allowed to drive your big cars
The party who put the burden of the lions share of motor tax on the poorest section of society because they can’t afford new cars!
And the greens thought that this was a good thing?
Not only extortion on car tax for older cars but heating oil. We (small little Ireland) are being told carbon is causing huge enviornmental problems. Considering the tiny proportion we contribute to carbon we are being royally screwed(a hidden taxation). Just look at the number of cars and SUVs in Europe and North America. The greens are dead and gone for their misguided belief that taxation creates a better world. If that was the case surely they would have developed a properly functioning public transport system that down not cost a fortune to use.
The headline is extremely sexist not to mention ageist. What a brat.
They “tiny” proportion of climate emissions that Ireland emits annually is equal to that of the world’s 400 million poorest people. Considering that they’re the ones who get most seriously impacted by climate change, you don’t think we have any reason to do something about it?
horseshite
Motorists aren’t going to be of any concern to the Greens as they spend so much time on their high horses
Gormley went back to bed when Lenihan rang him to tell him about the bank guarantee. That’s how serious they are.
After reading the informed views of this new breed of saplings above I’m inclined to go back to bed too.
Good comment
In the above picture there is a man with a tie sitting with a double barrelled shotgun across his stomach.. unsettling.
The Green Party, the guys who helped give us a good kicking when we were really down! Ahhh… the scent of ministerial leather was much more important to them than the people! We ain’t forgetting!
You lost me at Green Party. Are they still a thing? At least Labour will be keeping them company soon.
If the greens is the best they could find,the nation is kaput.
I the article was relating to dating disasters for a minute :-D
Thought
The old blame the “boomers” for my my own inadequacies…boo F**ckin woo !
“Neither voted for the Greens at the last election”… and yet they are now Green party members? You would have to question the strength of their political convictions.
I guess they are making a bet that the Greens won’t have to make any difficult decisions (i.e. they won’t be in power) for a long time.
Obviously impressed by John Gormleys youth, these two have no idea how much of their future was pissed away by the Green Party’s snooze through government.
It’s obvious, after shopping around, they were looking for a brand of politics that would give them an instant platform and an agenda.
I could be mistaken here, but having seen the PDs, The Greens and the Labour Party fail spectacularly in Coalition, I believe the Irish electorate will be less inclined to waste their votes on marginal parties. Independents are preferable.
Having regard to their failure to start their own party, sadly all I see is two number twos complaining about old mens number ones.
If labour held their nerve and told FG where to stick their extreme right wing program for government, there was every chance they could have been the majority party in the next government. But no the scent of gold plated pensions was irresistible to the aging workers party cohorts
Gay marriage, abortion, huge social welfare spending, tax increases, bloated public service, giving away Irish passports for nothing, increased nanny state measures… None of these things could form part of any “extreme right wing programme for government”.
Yes TC,
But attempting to abolish the Senate, direct confrontation with the judiciary, maintaining USC and honouring the Bank Guarantee?
That’s demonstrative of fascist, never mind extreme right wing government.
They put the abolition to the people and they decided to keep the Seanad. They increased USC, right wing parties are typically in favour of lowest taxes possible. As for the bank guarantee, sate interference in the banking system I’d imagine most real right wingers would say that overreach by the state is certainly not right wing.
“I’d imagine most real right wingers would say that overreach by the state is certainly not right wing.”
Overreach is a nice understatement, I guess most left wingers would use a similar denial.
It’s unacceptable and I expect the electorate will be demonstrating that to Kenny et al.
So the USC, an income tax, is fascist/extreme right wing?
On what planet?
The USC was implemented so that the people would pay for services while tax revenue was diverted to paying bankers.
Whatever is wrong with the left wing, they wouldn’t do that, or if they did they wouldn’t expect to get away with it.
Idiot feminsts. So it’s just middle aged men who are to blame? Ever heard of the likes of Mary Couglan and Mary Harney?
Are you really trying to suggest that there is anything like equality of representation in Irish politics?
Read my comment I suggested nothing of the sort. But I’m sure your good self would be in favour of introducing gender quotas to ensure ‘adequate equality of representation’.
You forgot Mary Hanafin and Mary O’Rourke.
Exactly Dave. If this lady wants to get into politics and joining the Greens is hardly a good start, she might want to familiarise herself with those who came before her.
I’m not in favour of quotas as an answer to equality at all – I don’t think quotas have anything at all to do with equality and are overall a bad thing.
I’m simply saying that by calling someone out as an “idiot feminist” you do your usual move of labelling someone and then offering a couple of examples which SUGGEST that being able to name a few women in politics across a generation is some scientific measure of gender balance in politics.
I find that laughable – and apparently ignorant of how Ireland compares with other nations wrt gender balance in politics.
Well done lads – you’re up to 4 female ministers spanning about 40 years….. keep them coming.
Lol. Nobody mentioned anything about ‘gender balance’ or equality of reprensentation’ except yourself Tony.
You must have enjoyed some ‘delicious’ food with this lady.
Ah now scipio, we all know you’re only here to find some “thumb balance” back after killing your ratio by supporting Clarkson – go find a thread about the middle east so that you can generalise about 1.6bn muslims.
Must have being some good food. So much for ‘never responding to one of my comments again’, but obsession is a powerful thing.
You still interested in missing the point I see – right from the very start.
Says the man who just introduced completely irrelevant points about Clarkson, green thumbs and Muslims. Oh dear!
Are you denying you said that Tony?
Why would I? Are you still denying your blatant prejudices, attempts to deflect and deliberate misrepresentation?
Quote some examples of my prejudice?
Thanks but no thanks…. Carbon Tax and various other anti-rural policies…
Bogue clearly seeking the middle aged male vote there. Ageist and sexist
She must have never heard of John Gormley.
With respect to Irish politics, is it sexist/ageist to point out that the vast majority of Irish politicians are middle aged men?
There’s another few stereotypes of the Irish politician that also run true.g. lack of private sector experience, lack of financial/management education, lack of moral/ethical/philosophical education, lack of leadership skills.
Well done on reading the title
The problem for the Green Party and now Labour is that they will never be big enough to be in a position to call any shots. They will forever play second fiddle to either FG, FF or even SF so their plans will always be irrelevant. I always voted Green and FF (yes, I’m ashamed of myself now) but I was so disappointed in them when they went into coalition that I will never waste my vote on them again. I then gave my votes to Labour in the last GE and they have been the biggest disappointment so far.
SF will never be more than a little party also.
Yes. And perhaps that’s the real inhibitor to a credible left developing in Ireland.
Parties like the Greens or Labour have (had?) no option but to:
(a) go into government with either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil (and suffer the electoral consequences afterwards); or
(b) stay outside of Government and (under the Irish political system) have no effective input.
To be fair, even the ideologically right PDs might have suffered in the same way.
The lack of distinction between Government and legislature in Ireland, I think, might also be a factor. These parties have to compromise in Government. But the Irish system means the whole parliamentary party has to toe that single Government line in the legislature too: doubly condemning them.
Contrast even with our closest cousins in the UK, where the Conservatives have occasionally had to rely on Labour in parliament to get Conservative-LibDem government policies legislated for. Our parliament is too weak to ever imagine such independence from Government.
The only reason anyone would join the greens is that they have such a low membership that it would be quite easy to get on the ticket to run in the next GE. What they dont realise is that they dont stand a chance of being elected.
Whatever about their political alignment, I always think it’s admirable when anyone gets involved and attempts to make a difference for the greater good. Too many people sitting on the sidelines complaining but not trying to do anything about it. Fair play to them. More than likely all they’ll get here is abuse.
Yes Paul, but they should start by being aware of the failings of their own parties past before blaming others !Sorry these are just ‘cannon folder’, ‘yes people’ not visionary thinkers!
I note that they want to get 2 % of the vote so they’d have access to political funding by the taxpayer, they want to get their green snouts in the trough already , it’s nice to have a dream ,in their case that’s all it will be .
Ye had a chance lads. Could have stood up and made a real difference. Could have stopped all those “middle aged men ” from passing away all of our futures. Instead ye fiddled away with nonsense carbon taxes and let FF have their way at the till. Nobody’s going to forget that
Also eamon Ryan is a supergoon.
Ps renewable energy is a joke that isn’t going to keep my toaster running, nuclear has to play a part in our future, but thanks to misinformed scaremongering eejits like the greens across Europe that industry is being hampered.
To be fair to them the green argument on nuclear is that it’s perfectly safe but hugely capital intensive and uneconomical in it’s current form for a country the size of Ireland which could only bear at most 2 reactors. Without the expertise to build and run it existing here natively we’d end up paying an arm and a leg to another country, probably France, to get us set up and running. The costs are prohibitive and would necessitate it being run either by a new State or Semi State body or the ESB, this would just further consolidate power over energy production into few hands whereas the push for renewables decentralises production and restores agency to smaller communities and individuals
Tá sé éascaí a bheith ciniciúil ach tá moladh mór ag dul do dhaoine a bhfuil sásta iad féin a chur is comhair an phobail. Go n-éirí leo.
Huh?
Ní maith liom cáin carbáineach. Íocaim €520 anois don cáin ghluaisteáin (1.58l don ineall) agus níl mé ró shásta le Eamon Ryan ach an oiread. Amadáin go leor (i mo thuairim).
Curry me yoghurt!
Cáinfach an Greens yoghurt freisin (“Yoghurt tax”).
Mar a dúirt mé, tá sé éasca a bheith ciniciúil. ;)
Ach, níl sé éasca a bith a bheith bocht ón “cáin Glas”. ;(
*ar bith. Plá ar autocorrect.
看不懂
I won’t vote for the Green Party but I will say fair play to those young people. At least they are putting themselves out there instead of whining on Internet forums
Fior go leoir gaeltan..but them small parties have proved to be a waste of time..just wait till after the GE and see how far gone labour will be
Sure with a degree in Irish music and dance, the world was at her feet!
It’s not her fault though, it’s the middle aged men who are holding her back, just like her SJW friends on tumblr told her
Start them young, more career politicians is what we need *rolls eyes*
So are Young Greens going to be called “Brussel Sprouts”…
Dan Boyle if my sources are correct ,’always’ struggled for votes and he was well known ..Good luck enjoying your 1 or 2 hundred spoilt votes #oldmanwithbladderproblems
The greens, the party that proped up a falling govt. so it could do more and more damage to the country. Remember the minister portfolio saga? The greens when in opposition poured scorn on the govt. of the day. Yet when in power took Bertie at face value when he claimed to have won unexplained monies on the horses. They didn’t bat an eyelid and stayed very quiet. I too like others used to vote for the greens. Used to and never again.
The green party = the carbon tax party.
The Green Party thinks that the world ends at the edge of Dublin 4. Think of them and you think of bicycle clips, bunny huggers and a complete disconnection from the real world.Meanwhile in the rest of Ireland the real world goes on, people HAVE to have cars if they live outside the Pale as transport services between towns is non existent so they are forced to pay stupid sums on road tax and fuel thanks to these muppets. For example a Suzuki Vitara 2litTD in Ireland is 701 euros and in Portugal its €42 for the exact same vehicle. Carbon tax is another ridiculous idea of theirs, what difference does Ireland make to the worlds output compared to China, India and the USA where it is seen as an unnecessary charge on production. Absolute waste the Green Party dont waste your vote on them next time!
Now these are the people we need to run our Country, they care and they are young. Good luck guys get on the TV tell the people of Ireland what you want for our Country.
Yes, let’s send everybody over thirty out to the desert to die. Wisdom and life experience are bad things and must be eliminated from society.
Nobody is advocating they be rounded up and put in camps though we are at one of those rare moments in history where a cleanout of the old and introduction of the new en masse could be the breath of fresh thinking we so desperately need to help this jaded and depressed society.
Exactly what life experience and skill sets will these two young hopefuls bring to governing this country , have either of them held down a job ? A degree in Irish dancing and music !!! , studying for a masters in political communications !!! .
She comes across as pis.ed off with politics ,he comes across as vague .
I’d like to interview them properly with questions like what do you stand for and why should I vote for you , what can you bring to the job of governing the country that will benefit us , they both sound clueless, if this is the best the greens can come up with they will stay irrelevant .
Ah yes, the greens. Very found of the planet not so fond of humans
You had me at the headline and lost me at ‘Young Greens.’
Misguided kids. The political classes didn’t buy them a pony and grown ups are uncool.
FG are the only party with actual economic policies. It’s tough being the adult but someone’s got to do it.
Please, the youth of Ireland are perfectly entitled to feel let down by the policies of governments from the last 30 years. The influx of wealth that came into this country all at once was unprecedented, properly managed we wouldn’t have been far off a Utopia. That money was criminally squandered by both the governments and “grown ups” that came before us, they took a profoundly wealthy country (per capita) and turned it into one of the most indebted nations on the planet (again per capita) before retiring to leave us clean up the mess and pay on their penions, with little to show for it other than a few nice motorways, 2 disconnected tram lines that predominantly serve the south side of Dublin and a ream of hastily constructed housing estates and communities without any semblance of urban planning
“I wanted to get involved in politics because I’m just kind of tired of middle-aged men pissing away my future all the time” ?????????? so you joining the green party.” Make sense of that if you can. the only policies the greens ever have is “Lets put a tax on that”.
The Greens think that taxing the “pollutants” is the answer, it just gives the rich the right to destroy the environment and the not so well off hardship because the drive old cars of they cannot afford to insulate their homes or the landlord won’t invest in his property.
As a country we need to be innovative with regards to the environment money and taxes do not improve the situation.
These people are what’s wrong with identity politics. They blame a demographic (middle-aged men) for “pissing away our future” while they themselves are members of a party that oversaw utter catastrophe
No-one can help the sex they were born with or the year they were born. But you two voluntarily joined a party that helped ruin us. And you blame “middle-aged men” as a group?? The nerve!
The smug ‘we are right and everyone else is wrong’ attitude of many Green parties particularly the UK Green party just puts off swing voters like myself who would be delighted to give new faces a crack of the whip.
I’m not young enough to know everything
Many of the people who patted themselves on the back the one and only time they voted green last time round, behaved like little lost sheep. No good to any party really.
You are either green or not, no such thing as fair weather green.
A degree in Irish Music and Dance she is going to go far in politics she clearly has all the signs already that she can step up when needed to and make all the ridiculous decisions that our current ones make
We should compare her degree with the degrees of all the other TDs.
This may be my bladder speaking but how dare they look beyond the cliches and think for themselves.
How is a misandrogynistic and ageist viewpoint a good thing Dan?
Sure is. Especially when it’s true. Our politics are dominated by middle aged middle class men.
Gone party more like…..
Hard to believe the Green Party is still in existence – after the debacle of their tenure in Government with Fianna Fail and the disasters of the bank guarantee and Irish Water. I have seen Eamon Ryan on #Vinb on a few occasions since they were turfed out by the electorate but I always thought he was wheeled in to provide some comic relief.
We were, loiike, debating all the prooblems during happy hour in the student bar, and we’re looike, we’re just sick of the patriarchy man, these middle age men.. how come I have to choose between paying for a 10th pint tonight or a bar of soap, we have to join the green party and fix this pronto!
“middle-aged men pissing away my future all the time” – That’s not a nice thing to say about John Gormley or Eamon Ryan is it
They should be called the brown party for all the shite they spew out
Young Green sociopaths
I wonder if Ms Bogan would care to share her political opinions thru the medium of Dance?
She’s being a bit harsh on John Gormley – he hasn’t been in a position to piss away anyone’s future since 2011
The greens were unfairly scapegoated for the last government, they’re the most progressive thinking party this country has and we’re only shooting ourselves in the foot to continue lumping them in with FF gombeen politics.
” So last summer I was like ‘alright, I’ll get involved’.”
‘I was like’!!!!
And this lady wants to be taken seriously.
I didn’t vote for them but I thought it was a pity they were wiped in the collateral damage of the last election because they have some important things to say. Mind you, Paul gogarty is no loss to the body politic.
The green party .. why the hell do you join them ?… they are part of the shambles …
Close on 45000 views and 125 comments mostly by people who want to stress how irrelevant The Greens are.
We need young people like this to get involved in politics with fresh ideas and a vision.I just wish they would start other parties instead of just joining the ones that have already failed us,we need a choice as the ones we have are all the same.
I’d be really interested to hear what their “fresh ideas and a vision” are
Greens are driven by Green dogma
Rather than common sense
Best they are never in power again
Put it this way. These kids are sick of middle aged people pissing away their future.
Yet when the Greens were in government unemployment tripled from 5% to 15%. And it has reduced under FG/Lab to 10% and will probably be around 8% if they maintain the good work.
what did the green members of the previous government do if not piss way your future?
Who vote for Greens again after their stint with F.F.?
i am in the middle of reading Naomi Klein’s book “This Changes Everything, the Climate Vs Capitalism”. I would recommend every negative commentator and those who liked their comments to read it and get some perspective. the last time we had this much carbon in our atmosphere our sea levels were 20m higher than they are now, a lump of ice is irreversibly breaking off the antarctic the size of France that will raise our sea levels by 3 to 5metres. The Greens are the only party looking to the long term.
They did not cause the economic crisis but had to deal with it and as has been seen by what is now happening to the Greeks no left wing gov would have done anything different, even if there had not been a bank guarantee and we had somehow saved the banking system we still had a 24 billion a year budget deficit thanks to the neo liberal free market policies of the FF/PD gov.
The Greens did more for the environment than any party in the history of this state. car emissions dropped by 25% thanks to the new taxing of cars for carbon, the insulation grants they set up created hundreds if not thousands of jobs and will save billions in heating bills. the insulation and necessity for a renewable source of energy in every house will save anyone who has bought or built a house since 2008 hundreds in their heating bills but most people who are benefiting from this don’t realize that they have the greens to thank for this. this is what differentiates the greens from everyone else their policies are not for their core vote as is often the case with left/right wing parties, their policies are for the good of everyone and future generations.
If they had not had to deal with the greatest economic crisis this country has ever had the policies that they brought in on a number of issues would be seen as very progressive but hey i might as well be talking to the wall with many of you. what annoys me most is that some of the angriest people either voted for FF during the boom years or worse still did not vote at all and did not and may still not get involved in politics just sit on your computers being cynical, cynicism is easy getting up and taking a stand is far more difficult. the greens would have gone in with a left wing party in 2007 if they had 78 seats like FF did and they may well do that in the future. my preference would be a green/left coalition that serves the planet and the poor but there will never be a utopian 4 day working week where everyone has homes and the rich pay their fair share of taxes like in the Nordic countries if the planet is dying.
nothing that we count as important now will be looked upon as important for future generations they will only wonder why was not enough done to prevent the climate and resource catastrophe that we know is happening. my impression of the future and its being backed up by the moronic comments on this thread is that future generations will have to live on boats because all available land above water will be required to grow our food, this should put things in perspective but planning for the future has never been a good trait for Irish people or the human race in general.
Please let he Green Party be gone for good , we are in enough trouble with out more green taxes ,
Greens , labour , sinners should never be allowed In to government , FG FF are not much better , FG think they have done a great job ! They put their leader in hiding in the run up to the last election , as they were afraid of what tripe he would come out with when he had no advisor , speech writers that we all pay for around him ! Seriously I don’t know who we can vote for this time round . The people of this country have worked very hard and suffered over the last 8 yrs in this country to pay for the mistakes of governments , not Enda or any TD
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