Sunday
Feb272011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill When Irish Greens are Sliding
Feb 27, 2011 Greens The Irish Greens have apparently been annihilated in the country's elections, with the party losing all of its six seats.
Nothing like a bit of recession to concentrate minds on economic realities.
(H/T Don Pablo)
Reader Comments (26)
Pity we couldn't have done the same to them at Murrayfield this afternoon.
Alternatively you could say that green ideas have become so entrenched within the mainstream that the green party is no longer necessary.
And the tripling of Sinn Fein seats hardly shows that the Irish are taking a healthy dose of realism.
"The Cabinet which disastrously mishandled the economic collapse consisted almost exclusively of teachers, lawyers and career politicians"
Sounds familiar!
"This time, Fianna Fail not only failed to deliver, but through cronyism and incompetence wrecked the country."
Ditto!
Let's hope the Scottish Greens meet a similar fate in the Holyrood election in May. The egregious Patrick Harvie MSP and the Green party in general get a disproportionate amount of airtime and attention.
Pity we couldn't have done the same to them at Murrayfield this afternoon.
Gifted 6 penalties and still not enough ;0 .
The Aussie greens need to go the same way or Australia will be cap and trading despite a popular majority against. And proportional representation is supposed to be better, I have my doubts.
They can have our ONE (Caroline Lucas) if they like - I'm sure she's right up there with economic reality....
woodentop
The Scottish Greens may indeed go the same way. The brief wave of popularity the movement enjoyed is over and people are focussed on the economy now. The days of spending vast sums of money we don't have on subsidising renewables that don't work are over.
"The days of spending vast sums of money we don't have on subsidising renewables that don't work are over."
I hope you're right, BBD. There's a scheme afoot right now to put a whole farm of windmills in the sea off the Needles (Western point of the Isle of Wight) which hitherto has provided a lovely view.
Feb 27, 2011 at 6:48 PM | David
Here is a cracking piece of economic reality from Caroline Lucas:
"When it came to bailing out banks, we found billions in a few days. If the planet were a bank, it would have been sorted out a long time ago."
Westminster Hall, 18 November 2010.
While I am no fan of Sinn Fein, the Greens managed to force through a number of "Green" measures simply because Bertie and then Cowen the Clown needed them to continue ruling. They have done far more damage to the Irish economy than many of you realize. Perhaps the most painful was the 4 cent a liter "carbon tax" on fuel. Ireland depends on motor shipping, given that they ran their railroad system into the ground 50 years ago.
As for the UK, I hope you are as fortunate to get rid of them in the next election.
James P
I know. It will generally be a close-run thing, but even so I think the energy fantasists are going to be exposed sooner or later. Hopefully before too much more harm is done (and money is wasted).
Once the politicians actually have to face up to the fact that the latest trumpeted offshore wind project
a. Doesn't generate anything like as much power as the manufacturers (and advocacy) promised
b. Costs a fortune in subsidies
c. Keeps going down because of salt-water corrosion
d. Costs unbelievable amounts to maintain (see c.)
They might think twice about building any more.
Feb 27, 2011 at 6:48 PM | David
Here is a cracking piece of economic reality from Caroline Lucas:
"When it came to bailing out banks, we found billions in a few days. If the planet were a bank, it would have been sorted out a long time ago."
Westminster Hall, 18 November 2010.
Feb 27, 2011 at 7:19 PM | Brownedoff
Agreed David! - this person is a complete joke! - At least the Alarmists have stopped selling her to the general public as "Dr Caroline Lucas" an "expert on climate change" - when in fact, whilst she does have a PhD - it is in Elizabethan Romatic Liturature. - You could not make it up!
" She earned her PhD from the University of Exeter in 1989 with a thesis entitled Writing for Women: a study of woman as reader in Elizabethan romance.[8]"
Ref: Wikipedia.
Doug
AFAIK, this is true. Lucas' academic qualification is in English Literature.
Judging from the content of some of her pronouncements on climate change and energy policy, she has further reading to do.
“When Irish Greens are Sliding”
Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.
It's true that while the greens are gone, their legacy lives on in the form of carbon taxes, wind turbines, and endless idle talk about green jobs/green economy etc etc. Their is also some talk of a climate change bill being resurrected, having been shot down by the Irish seanad (senate) a few weeks ago. Our main hope (if that's the right word) is that the economy is so totally screwed that a climate bill will be wayyyy down the list of any new govt's priorities. They will need to focus on keeping the IMF/EU vultures at bay, hopefully by threatening to pull down the euro...
Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of going into our local polling booth in County Dublin.
I passed a comment to the official that I had some to "murder a political party."
I struck GOLD twice.
Firstly, I contributed to the demise of the Fianna Fail Party. Both local sitting members of our "Dail" (pronounced Doyle) were eliminated early in the count.
Our local Green member of Parliament (T.D.) was also eliminated along with the 7 other Greenie people from other areas.
This gave me great satisfaction. In earlier local elections for councillors the Greens lost all of their seats.
An historical note.
"Fianna Fail" (Fail is pronounced Foyle) mean Soldiers of Destiny.
The Fianna is the name of a mythical army (Fianna) in Ireland's folk lore. The greatest hero from the Fianna was Fionn and his brother's name was Oisin. (pronounced Usheen).
Ireland has a great "mythological" tradition. Most of this is unknown overseas needless to say.
Other earlier names for Ireland (Erin) as we now know it were:
Inis na bh-fiodhbadh or Ireland of the Woods
Crioch na bh-fuineadhach (Country of the extreme limits),
Inis-Ealga, Noble Island, during the reign of the Fir Bolg
Then came Eire, probably named ffrom a Queen of the Tuatha de Dananns.
Fodhla (Mysery) comes next in the mythological list
We have had enough mysery, so I Iwill finish here with what is only a brief list of the names our lovely country has had.
Source;
My well thumbed copy of:
Keating's History of Ireland, Book 1, Part 1 by P W Joyce LL.D., M.R.I.A
Published by M H Gill & Son Ltd
1904
Price one shilling and fourpence.
Incidentally, I would not really link the demise of the Greens here in Ireland to the AGW scam.
Their support of the Fianna Fail party resulted in their being voted out.
Most people here appear to have no interest in AGW!
Irish contributors here prove me wrong, PLEASE!
Peter Walsh, Swords, Co Dublin
RETEPHSLAW
Given that John Gormley was solely responsible for shutting down a number of turf cutting areas in the west, we were all ready to stuff a sleán up his arse.
Perhaps you are living the life of a Jackeen in Dublin, but out west we cut our fuel, and don't have it delivered in oil lorries. And of course, please explain why petrol is cheaper int NI than in ROI? Hint: Gromley's carbon tax. Perhaps you aren't dependent on your motor, but many of us out west are.
The Greens were frog marched off for what they did on their own as with FF</rant>
BTW, a sleán is the tool used to cut turf or peat, for those of you not living in rural Ireland.
Instead of pronouncing it as Fianna "foyle", I now think it makes more sense to henceforth call them Fianna Fail as in "to fail" ;-)
Shame to see Gerry Adams getting in. But desperate times make people do desperate things. If they do have any sense then they will haircut the bank debt and tell the EU and the IMF to eff off.
I digress from the topic but If you want to know what happened, below is a link to a great overview which only falls short in its failure to attribute some of the blame to Ireland's loss of its ability to control its own interest rate, and hence inflation post the advent of the euro.
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103
Bye bye Caroline Lucas come the next election : )
I see the Green vote in Ireland collapsed to 1.8% - about the same share of the vote as the Greens got in the UK election.
Curiously, I didn't see one mention on the BBC's news coverage yesterday of how the Irish Greens had done - not one mention that they had been annihilated and have been left with no seats in the Dail at all.
I think it's wishful thinking to believe that the Green movement might be in world-wide decline. They seem to be doing OK in Australia, for example. And in Germany they're going from strength to strength. For many years their poll ratings hovered around 4 - 6%, and then slowly increased to 10 - 11%. In the last year they've jumped to about 19 - 20% (shudder).
"They seem to be doing OK in Australia, for example. And in Germany they're going from strength to strength."
I can't speak for Germany, but here in Australia people are waking up to them fast. They have just pressured the minority Labor government into announce a carbon tax (leading to a emissions trading scheme) after our Quisling of a Prime Minister had categorically stated, just before the election in August, that there would be "no carbon tax under the government I lead" (the question then arising who actually leads the government).
You can almost see the steam rising from people's ears. Its quite likely that she'll be dumped by her own party as unceremoniously as Kevin Rudd, her predecessor, and, with any luck, the whole pack of them will be gone at first opportunity. As least the Liberal opposition have come out in full cry saying they'll oppose it and, if passed, repeal it once in power.
I should mention that, in all of this, there has not been a single word in the media about the total lack of any justification for such a scheme. Its all been about economics and lying.
Obama is hitting the buffers on CO2 too .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/28/barack-obama-delay-climate-action
RETEPHSLAW
Ireland has a great "mythological" tradition. Most of this is unknown overseas needless to say.
I can recommend The Celtic Encyclopedia by Harry Mountain, Vols I - V. 1997 ISBN 1-588112-889-4 (for set).
You should be able to find the set on-line at Amazon.uk. You may have to purchase the set as five separate volumes Cost me about $25 per volume but worth it.
Where is Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (aka Brian Boru) now that we need him?
Don Pablo
The Irish electorate has spoken as one to the Greens:
Póg mo thóin
Unveiled mysteries...magic presence... I am discourses... have many answers to Irish ancesters. Prayers