Press Releases - January 2001
4 January 2001
Mahon Development May Be Affected By Retail Guidelines
Green Party Cork Corporation member, Cllr. Dan Boyle, is to raise the retail element of the proposed Mahonpoint development at the next meeting of Cork City Council, asking whether the recently announced retail planning guidelines, released by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, are to be applied to the development.
“While an eighteen month grace period exists for the application of these guidelines, Cork Corporation needs to decide whether the scale of the existing proposed development meets not only the dearth of retail facilities for the greater Mahon area, but that it results in new jobs, not in the transfer of jobs from other retail areas in the city,” he stated.
“The planning question is separate to the other concerns I have raised in relation to this development. The two phases of planning permission that have already been granted in relation to residential and office and commercial development of the site are consistent with proper planning procedures, but I believe particular consideration needs to be given to the retail element of this development,” he said.
In a separate development Cllr. Boyle has finally been given sanction to examine tender and contract details on the Mahon development, in order to respond to concerns first raised by him in April 2000.
END
7 January 2001
Private Renting Tenants Still In Poor Second Place In Government's Eyes
“The studied indifference and long fingering by this government in attempting to bring about any real reform in the lot of private renting tenants, shows where its real priorities lie, and whose interests they feel most obliged to defend,” stated Cllr. Dan Boyle reacting to proposals released by the Minister for State with responsibility for Housing, Bobby Molloy, TD.
“It is clear that the government values the rights of property and capital higher than meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged sector of the housing market,” he continued.
“Reforms need to be initiated now. The government must move away from tax based solutions and the squandering of millions of pounds through the supplementary rent allowance scheme. Many of the solutions could and should have already been introduced in the lifetime of this government, instead of promising action two years from now. A government that is not dealing with this problem now, will not deal with it in the lifetime of any future government,” he concluded.
END
12 January 2001
Loss of Bus Lane “A Bad Move”
Green Party Cork City Councillor Dan Boyle has expressed concern that new two way 0traffic proposals in Cork City Centre will see the removal of the city's only bus priority lane at Lavitt's Quay.
“While the re-introduction of two way traffic is necessary, particularly on the city's quays, the removal of the city's only bus priority lane sends out all the wrong signals,” he stated.
“Cork has an appallingly poor record in allocating road space so that public transport can move more efficiently, more quickly, and have a real advantage when compared to the private motor car. I believe this is a decision that needs to be thought through more clearly,” he concluded.
END
15 January 2001
Extreme Concern at Serious Incident
The Green Party has expressed extreme concern at the latest and most serious incident at the Irish Ispat plant at Haulbowline.
Party representative Cllr. Dan Boyle has called for all reports and agreements entered into by the company with state agencies to be publicly released, so it can be assessed the extent to which the company has acted after previous serious safety incidents at the plant. Among such reports would be:
a. Reports of the Health and Safety Authority
b. All correspondence between the company and the Environmental Protection Agency, outlining the reasons why no Integrated Pollution Licence has been issued to date, and
c. The agreement of sale that exists between Irish Ispat and the Irish government.
“If it is shown that the company has compromised with the safety of its workforce, and with the safety of those living in the immediate vicinity of the steel plant, then the government must be prepared to take some necessary hard decisions,” Cllr. Boyle stated.
“The fact that a person has lost their life puts this debate into context, and prime consideration must be given to the family of the person concerned, to whom every sympathy must be given,” he concluded.
END
16 January 2001
Greens Outline Economic Priorities For Next Government
The Green Party launched their new economics policy at a press conference in Dublin today and presented proposals designed to influence the term of the next Government, should they hold the balance of power after the next election.
Launching the policy document titled , “A Greenprint for a Green Economy”, Green Party spokesperson on Economic and Social affairs, Cllr. Dan Boyle, described the document as a “compendium of green economic ideas adaptable to changing economic conditions”. The policy includes positions on taxation, social welfare, trade, employment and public expenditure.
Councillor Boyle also presented a document on how the Green Party would hope to influence economic policy over the term of the next government. In this document targets are set for the introduction of two new tax rates - 10% and 33%. The application of these new rates will see PAYE earners not paying any tax at the minimum wage level and not being liable for the highest rates of tax until more than £60,000 has been earned. Compensatory alternative taxes on energy, capital and corporation tax have also been proposed.
Increases in social protection expenditure (in areas such as Health and Education) are proposed which will bring Ireland's expenditure in line with the European Union average. A central proposal is to index link social welfare payments with average household income. In terms of assistance available to meet growing childcare costs, the goal will be to have monthly payments of £200 per month per child in a combination of child benefit and new parenting allowances.
The document goes on to state the levels of public expenditure increases that the party believes can be sustainably attained by an incoming government.
“We are sure that these documents, which show the growing maturity and realism of the Green Party in the area of economic policy, will be closely examined by other political parties who might be considering working with the Green Party as a as a party of government, but in the degree of specifics that are outlined it also shows the Green Party cannot and will not be taken for granted in the formulating and practice of economic policy, of any government that it may find itself a part of,” Cllr. Boyle concluded.
END
18 January 2001
Ispat PR Blitz “Distasteful”
Green Party representative Cllr. Dan Boyle has criticised full page advertisements taken by the Irish Ispat company concentrating on a very small aspect of the criticism the company has faced after this week's major incident.
“To produce a publicity blitz of this nature, after the silence that accompanied Monday's incident, and the months and years of indifference that the company has shown to its regular dispersal of toxic clouds of dust over Cork Harbour and its environs, as well its seeming less than careful attitude to the safety of its workforce, shows a company that has seriously lost the plot as to how it is failing to live up to its responsibility,” Cllr. Boyle claimed.
“Even the supposed upset over its use of radioactive materials is not being put into its proper context by the company. The current licensing system is far from ideal, and new legislation will require more stringent licensing to be placed on the company,” he continued.
“What is most unacceptable about these advertisements is that the cost involved surely would go a long way in ensuring that on site ambulances and fire tenders worked correctly,” Cllr. Boyle concluded.
END
19 January 2001
League of Credit Unions Should Receive Government Subvention
Green Party spokesperson on economic and social affairs, Cllr. Dan Boyle, has proposed that the government give the Irish League of Credit Unions a subvention of £30 million to allow for the completion of its integrated information technology system, currently under threat.
“Not only would such a subvention be a recognition of the importance of a volunteer led approach to community banking, and an enhancement of the small savers who make up the Credit Union movement; it would also provide extra infrastructure through which state payments, such as social welfare payments, could be made,” Cllr. Boyle stated.
“The precedent of government involvement in insurance and commercial banking companies in the past, must mean that the government cannot claim to be indifferent or not obliged to be involved,” he continued.
Commenting on the latest inflation figures Cllr. Boyle said that they represent the impact of reduced VAT rates in the last month's budget, and it was too early to say whether it represented the start of a downward trend, at least until the effects of the inflationary aspects of the budget are measured.
END
24 January 2001
O'Brien Donation Would Have Been Given Short Shrift
“The Green Party feels not in the least sense slighted at not having been offered or received the all too generous £50,000 donations given by businessman Denis O'Brien to Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats, and Fianna Fáil,” according to the party's spokesperson on economic and social affairs, Cllr. Dan Boyle.
“Perhaps Mr. O'Brien knows that if such money was offered it would have been promptly refused, not that it couldn't have been used or that it wasn't needed, but because our party believes that such donations taint the political system,” Cllr. Boyle.
“The acceptance and use of these large donations by the three political parties concerned, compromises them all in any future dealing that they may have with Mr. O'Brien, or his business interests; interests that after all are found in the areas of telecommunications and broadcasting, which require substantial political involvement in decision making,” he continued.
“Mr. O'Brien could very well believe that he is helping an under resourced political system, but more likely his widespread, though discriminating, use of money, should more properly be seen as an insurance policy to ensure that the political system will continue to assist his interests, in the ways that it has so properly done to date,” he concluded.
END
28 January 2001
Likely Ministerial Action Ominous
Reports that the Minister for the Environment and Local Government is to propose to the cabinet that incineration as a waste disposal option be imposed on local authorities, has been described as “ominous” by Green Party spokesperson, and Cork Corporation member, Cllr. Dan Boyle.
“The Minister will be very mistaken if this is what he intends to propose. It will not represent strong government, but will rather expose the weakness of government policies that have failed to put in place any measures to limit the growing waste mountain in the country, and have offered nothing but lip service in initiating any recycling programmes of note,” Cllr. Boyle claimed.
“The attachment of the government and the Minister to incineration, shows sees waste management solely in terms of quick fix solutions, that represent no solution at all,” he continued.
“As Cork Corporation faces into a number of meetings that will finalise its waste management policies for the coming years, I am certain that any proposal to impose incineration in this region will be opposed vehemently by community groups and by all responsible public representatives,” he concluded.
END
