Greens - dodgy solutions, poorly implemented?

[mollox]

Anyone see Minister Eamon Ryan on “The Week in Politics” tonight?

First waffling on Govt policy on autism and ABA. Sean O’Rourke pointed out that John Gormley had joined a pre-election protest march in support of ABA, promising all sorts of Green support for parents seeking this form of education for their autistic children. O’Rourke repeatedly demanded that Ryan explain what, if anything, the Greens had done in Govt to deliver on this promise. Ryan waffled on about measures that had basically been decided by the previous administration and it was clear that the Greens have had zero input into this policy area since joining Govt. Or SFA interest in it either, I’ll wager.

Then Ryan was challenged on the unintended consequences of the proposed VRT & Motor Tax regime changes, effectively disadvantaging those who have already bought their “greener” cars, while increasing the incentive to import second-hand diesels etc after July 1st next.
Ryan didn’t seem to understand what the preceding report had been about or the questions that Sean O’Rourke was posing to him. Instead, he waffled on about the longer-term benefits of the policy - which no-one was disputing. Then he seemed to imply that Gormley may be looking at anomalies before finalising the actual legislation.
Another “light-bulb”-type initiative from the Greens - make the big announcement and work out the details afterwards, once you‘ve caused a bit of chaos for both business and consumers.

This whole Green approach to policy formulation could prove to be extremely dangerous, particularly in areas of major investment and those with long delivery timeframes, such as energy generation.

Minister Ryan routinely rules out Nuclear energy and takes every opportunity to talk about depleting oil reserves and the need to reduce our dependency on imported fuels. He then goes into his spiel about Ireland’s capacity to exploit renewable resources, hyping wind, wave & tidal electricity generation and the use of bio-fuels.

In the case of bio-fuels, a couple of new studies, reported in US media, have found that production and use of bio-fuels creates even higher carbon emissions that conventional fossil fuels.
In the case of wave & tidal power generation, these are technologies which are only at the experimental/ prototype stage, we simply don’t know how effective they may ultimately be in meeting our electricity needs or, even if successful, at what cost.

CONCLUSION: The more I see of the Greens in action, the more I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions, but I have no confidence that they have the right answers, particularly for maintaining the economy through a major environmental change programme.
And even less confidence that they have the management capability to plan and implement effective solutions.

[cactus flower]

Anyone see Minister Eamon Ryan on “The Week in Politics” tonight?

First waffling on Govt policy on autism and ABA. Sean O’Rourke pointed out that John Gormley had joined a pre-election protest march in support of ABA, promising all sorts of Green support for parents seeking this form of education for their autistic children. O’Rourke repeatedly demanded that Ryan explain what, if anything, the Greens had done in Govt to deliver on this promise. Ryan waffled on about measures that had basically been decided by the previous administration and it was clear that the Greens have had zero input into this policy area since joining Govt. Or SFA interest in it either, I’ll wager.

Then Ryan was challenged on the unintended consequences of the proposed VRT & Motor Tax regime changes, effectively disadvantaging those who have already bought their “greener” cars, while increasing the incentive to import second-hand diesels etc after July 1st next.
Ryan didn’t seem to understand what the preceding report had been about or the questions that Sean O’Rourke was posing to him. Instead, he waffled on about the longer-term benefits of the policy - which no-one was disputing. Then he seemed to imply that Gormley may be looking at anomalies before finalising the actual legislation.
Another “light-bulb”-type initiative from the Greens - make the big announcement and work out the details afterwards, once you‘ve caused a bit of chaos for both business and consumers.

This whole Green approach to policy formulation could prove to be extremely dangerous, particularly in areas of major investment and those with long delivery timeframes, such as energy generation.

Minister Ryan routinely rules out Nuclear energy and takes every opportunity to talk about depleting oil reserves and the need to reduce our dependency on imported fuels. He then goes into his spiel about Ireland’s capacity to exploit renewable resources, hyping wind, wave & tidal electricity generation and the use of bio-fuels.

In the case of bio-fuels, a couple of new studies, reported in US media, have found that production and use of bio-fuels creates even higher carbon emissions that conventional fossil fuels.
In the case of wave & tidal power generation, these are technologies which are only at the experimental/ prototype stage, we simply don’t know how effective they may ultimately be in meeting our electricity needs or, even if successful, at what cost.

The more I see of the Greens in action, the more I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions, but I have no confidence that they have the right answers, particularly for maintaining the economy through a major environmental change programme.
And even less confidence that they have the management capability to plan and implement effective solutions.

You might want to look at the bio fuels thread

[qtman]

Anyone see Minister Eamon Ryan on “The Week in Politics” tonight?

First waffling on Govt policy on autism and ABA. Sean O’Rourke pointed out that John Gormley had joined a pre-election protest march in support of ABA, promising all sorts of Green support for parents seeking this form of education for their autistic children. O’Rourke repeatedly demanded that Ryan explain what, if anything, the Greens had done in Govt to deliver on this promise. Ryan waffled on about measures that had basically been decided by the previous administration and it was clear that the Greens have had zero input into this policy area since joining Govt. Or SFA interest in it either, I’ll wager.

Then Ryan was challenged on the unintended consequences of the proposed VRT & Motor Tax regime changes, effectively disadvantaging those who have already bought their “greener” cars, while increasing the incentive to import second-hand diesels etc after July 1st next.
Ryan didn’t seem to understand what the preceding report had been about or the questions that Sean O’Rourke was posing to him. Instead, he waffled on about the longer-term benefits of the policy - which no-one was disputing. Then he seemed to imply that Gormley may be looking at anomalies before finalising the actual legislation.
Another “light-bulb”-type initiative from the Greens - make the big announcement and work out the details afterwards, once you‘ve caused a bit of chaos for both business and consumers.

This whole Green approach to policy formulation could prove to be extremely dangerous, particularly in areas of major investment and those with long delivery timeframes, such as energy generation.

Minister Ryan routinely rules out Nuclear energy and takes every opportunity to talk about depleting oil reserves and the need to reduce our dependency on imported fuels. He then goes into his spiel about Ireland’s capacity to exploit renewable resources, hyping wind, wave & tidal electricity generation and the use of bio-fuels.

In the case of bio-fuels, a couple of new studies, reported in US media, have found that production and use of bio-fuels creates even higher carbon emissions that conventional fossil fuels.
In the case of wave & tidal power generation, these are technologies which are only at the experimental/ prototype stage, we simply don’t know how effective they may ultimately be in meeting our electricity needs or, even if successful, at what cost.

The more I see of the Greens in action, the more I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions, but I have no confidence that they have the right answers, particularly for maintaining the economy through a major environmental change programme.
And even less confidence that they have the management capability to plan and implement effective solutions.

Greens make changes; changes won't work. For shame!

Green haven't made any changes in Government. For shame!

Greens ate my hamster. For shame!

Greens know what happened to Shergar. For shame!

*yawn*

[mollox]

Greens make changes; changes won't work. For shame!

Green haven't made any changes in Government. For shame!

Greens ate my hamster. For shame!

Greens know what happened to Shergar. For shame!

*yawn*

I'll take that absence of argument as agreement. Thanks, qtman, you're beginning to get sense.

[Evil Eco-Fascist]

Greens make changes; changes won't work. For shame!

Green haven't made any changes in Government. For shame!

Greens ate my hamster. For shame!

Greens know what happened to Shergar. For shame!

*yawn*

I'll take that absence of argument as agreement. Thanks, qtman, you're beginning to get sense.

In fairness mollox, it'd be easier to take a thread like this seriously if there weren't ten like it every day on this site, week after week, month after month; The law of diminishing returns and all that.

[storybud]

yep. I have given up stating the obvious about the green con, all soundbites and short term attention seekers but no meat, pity, looks like a new Real Green Party should emerge from the hedges if there is any hope.

How many power stations open in China a month? check out the times section on how the Chinese are ripping everything out of Africa for their economy and supporting the corrupt regimes to keep the locals down and the ore flowing, the Chinese ships are queing around Africa to take the ore back home. ( they are not building any factories in Africa and this expalins a lot )

for every mine/power station they open just undoes any green incentive in Ireland a thousand fold,and where was Gormless recently at the big conference - yep - in Asia ? what a laugh.

[qtman]

The more I see of the Greens in action, the more I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions, but I have no confidence that they blah blah blah....

I've noticed this distinct change in GP bashing since the last opinion poll.

The various quacks now seem to have given up on the "sold you souls to FF" argument and the "its the end of the world as we know it" argument, and have switched to the "well, you're right, but we don't think you'll be able to deliver" argument.

This will soon change to the "Well, you were right, and you did deliver, but what my mother's maiden name?" argument.

[Evil Eco-Fascist]

The more I see of the Greens in action, the more I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions, but I have no confidence that they blah blah blah....

I've noticed this distinct change in GP bashing since the last opinion poll.

The various quacks now seem to have given up on the "sold you souls to FF" argument and the "its the end of the world as we know it" argument, and have switched to the "well, you're right, but we don't think you'll be able to deliver" argument.

This will soon change to the "Well, you were right, and you did deliver, but what my mother's maiden name?" argument.

Ah sure God loves a trier, qtman!

[bryannavaro]

Ryan wouldn't answer the question about the new car tax. You could see he knew that the policy was flawed, but he had to tow the government line. It was sad to see.

Of course it's stupid that people who already own low-emissions cars won't get to benefit from reduced road taxes. It's especially stupid when you consider that 2/3s of a car's emissions are created during the production process. If I own a 2002 Nissan Micra then the Green Party is telling me that I'd be better off trading it in for a 2008 Nissan Micra. Doh!

The best way to reduce car emissions (besides reducing car usage) is to encourage people to hold on to the low-emission cars that are already out there. And then phase in low-emissions cars when the guzzlers come to the end of their lifespan.

[Squire Allworthy]

I conclude that they may well be asking many of the right questions,

Well there you go a happy bunny or at least in part.


Mollox, if you are attacking any political party. Keep it tight and very specific.