What a fortnight! 


There's been quite a few losers in all of this and some winners as well. Dan had a good week last week, as did Vincent P Martin and Gary Fitzgerald. The rest of us? No, we didn't cover ourselves in glory, but that's the benefit of hindsight.


George Lee's departure from politics a fortnight ago took most of us by suprise. He strikes me as decent guy who found life in Leinster House a lot more difficult than it appears from afar. Change can takes a long time to happen, and involves compromise and lenghty discussions. I got some flack over describing a meeting of the sub-Committee on Dáil Reform of the Committee on Procedures and Privileges as being similar to watching paint dry, but change happens slowly when all sides seek consensus on an issue. The end result of that particular process will probably result in a legislature that sits longer and spends more time both legislating and dealing with topical issues, but the road to that destination is long and winding.


George wanted to move quickly, and in the media results have to happen for a 6 or a 9 o'clock deadline, and I'm sure he found that frustrating. You've also got to have a good working relationship with your colleagues, and that's always a challenge. There's a mad mix of ego and idealism in politics, and collegiality is often crucial in getting the right result. I had a few brief chats with George over the last few months. We discussed kids and the challenge of a work-life balance, and he struck me as a decent individual. I can only imagine that it was difficulty to come into a party where most members of the front bench have three or four Dáil terms behind them, and where the existing TDs already have clearly delineated roles.


Deirdre de Burca's departure has been a real loss. She's been a great campaigner for the Green Party and did great work in exposing planning and waste management peculiarities in County Wicklow. She grew up just down the road from me in Cabinteely, and I suspect that the campaigns against the rezoning of Cherrywood led by her neighbour Michael Smith in the early 1990's informed her own politicisation. Michael has gone on to edit the Village Magazine, and is providing a lively and informed commentary on contemporary Ireland. She attended some of the World Social Forums and was enthused by the discussion of alternative economic systems. I feel that she found Government challenging, and particularly the tough decisions over the bank guarantees and the setting up of the National Assets Management Agency. She loves the stimulation of European policy and decision-making and gave much of her time to the Forum on Europe, campaigning for a yes vote in the Lisbon Referenda, and catching up with the latest developments in Brussels. As a result of this she wasn't the most frequent attendee at our weekly parliamentary party meetings, and she missed out on a lot of the discussions last autumn around the renegotiation of the Programme for Government. I was surprised that she lobbied for a position in Brussels, but that's water under the bridge now. 


I'm also taken aback by the thrust of her most recent email regarding the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA). We all receive tens of thousands of emails every year, and in my experience I would either raise an issue of concern at our weekly parliamentary party meetings, or by writing directly to John or his senior staff. I tend not to cc John in emails that I've sent to someone else as he's even more swamped with information than the rest of us. In any case by the time that she wrote to him last August the concerns about the Docklands had already been well aired by Kathleen Barrington in the Sunday Business Post. I suspect that the DDDA won't come out of all of this as a paragon of corporate governance, but I am reassured that John Gormley has appointed Niamh Brennan as chair of the Authority.


 The irony in all of this is that the green critique of the Celtic Tiger years has been well and truly vindicated at this stage. We were critical of decisions made by previous governments, and the over-reliance on tax incentives, especially in the area of property development. That's why I'm heartened that Brian Cowen has Peter Clinch as his economic advisor. Peter co-authored 'After the Celtic Tiger' along with Frank Convery and Brendan Walsh, and it is heartening that he has the ear of our Taoiseach during these tough times. I suspect that there's not too many unexploded bombs in the DDDA, but if there is, I'm sure that John Gormley will take the right course of action. 


The Willy O'Dea resignation was messy. The Greens; Fianna Fáil; Willy O'Dea himself, no-one in government comes out of this well. Given that Pat Carey seems to have made the decision to run with the Motion of Confidence in the shower on Wednesday morning, we need to have much clearer lines of communication, and decision-making, and I'm glad to say that he's agreed to that. You might think that in a small Party we'd be in close contact with each other all the time, but the reality is that we're all stretched, trying to cover several portfolios at the same time. Sitting days are often a blur with opportunities to catch up with colleagues being limited to chance meetings in the corridors, text messages, or a hurried lunch in the Dáil canteen. One of the difficulties was that the text from Pat Carey's office regarding the Motion of Confidence only went to Dáil deputies and did not go to Senators, so Dan didn't realise that realise that matters would move as quickly as they did. It may come across as nit-picking, but voting against a Motion of No Confidence a week later would have been quite different from voting for a motion of Confidence on the day. Vincent P Martin's article on the Wednesday was excellent, but the Limerick Leader failed to exonerate Willy O'Dea, and both the tape, his interview and the Dáil debate failed to do the Minister any favours.

Meanwhile life goes on in Leinster House. I'm meeting some rail freight users at 11, a trip out to see Eirgrid's control room at 12, and the Dáil week kicks off at 2.30. 

The pic? That's the unfinished Anglo-Irish Bank headquarters in Dublin Docklands, and someone fishing in the foreground. Maybe we should keep it just the way it is, as a monument to the excesses of the Tiger years.

UPDATE 8.45pm
Turned out not to be a normal day after all. I'm still in shock at the news of Trevor's resignation as a Junior Minister. He is one of the most selfless decent people that I have met in public life. It seemed like half of Leinster House where saying to themselves "there but for the grace of God go I" when they heard the news.


As John Gormley noted earlier this evening Trevor "acted promptly and without any self interest. That is totally in keeping with his approach to politics and the contribution he has made across the past four decades."

I couldn't agree more.

Had a good meeting with Dick Fearn, the CEO of Iarnród Éireann yesterday. Many thanks to all who replied to my tweet requesting agenda items.

I was pleased with some of what I learnt at the meeting: smart cards for rail users are almost here, and there's some light at the end of the tunnel for rail freight, and the good news is that yes, it is an oncoming train. That pic is from Alexandra Road in Dublin Port by the way.


Mr. Fearn's office is in the Irish Rail HQ on Amiens Street in the city centre. It's an architectural delight inside with impressive Victorian arches, and tiles and stairs that remind you of the golden days of Great Northern Railways. We discussed Irish Rail's plans for 2010. Last year was difficult - the subvention from Government was reduced by 10%, and there's been a 10% drop in revenue. There will be another 10% decrease in subvention this year as part of the Government's plan to get Ireland's current spending under control. The good news is that there won't be fare increases this year, and that the plans for capital spending under Transport 21 will continue. Irish Rail fared well during the cold spell. There were some delays on early trains, mostly due to overnight 'waxing' of diesel when the temperature went into double digits below freezing, an unusual occurrence for Ireland. Given that I was delayed on a Eurostar from Brussels on the way back from the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen just before Christmas due to snow, I think Irish Rail fared well.

A new timetable was introduced on 29 November last. There have been some service reductions, but also some improvements such as an early morning express from Waterford at 7.10 that stops in Carlow and gets into Heuston at 9.10 and is proving popular. The newer trains facilitate more splitting and joining which adds flexibility to services. The Western Rail Corridor is scheduled for opening by the end of March. Recent flooding on the Limerick Ennis section of the line will require co-operation from the OPW to address underlying drainage issues, and I intend discussing this with Martin Mansergh who has responsibility in this area. A great opportunity presents itself when the Galway-Limerick Section opens. It should be possible to travel between most of the gateway cities identified in the National Spatial Strategy without having to travel through Dublin. Falling passenger numbers on the Waterford to Rosslare line are a cause for concern, as that line had previously been well supported by freight traffic of sugar beet at Wellington Bridge. I suggested that better promotion of little used services might help. There's also a case for local authorities to work with Irish Rail to provide better signage and promotion of rail services. A few years ago I found myself completely lost walking in circles on the back streets of Ennis trying to find the Station, and a simple sign or two might have put me out of my misery.


We discussed the DART underground, a project that has the potential to make a dramatic improvement in public transport in Dublin. Concerns have been raised about the proposed location of a portal entrance to the tunnel in Inchicore. Mr. Fearn pointed out that this will bypass the pinch-point at Kilmainham that's known as the 'Bridge of Signals'. It is a massive project, and if handled correctly has the potential link up the city east and west.


On the existing DART network a new timetable has also been introduced. It provides for trains every 15 minutes off-peak, which has practically eliminated sightings of 'next train 23 minutes' on departure boards. It has reduced the amount of peak trains though, and this is a problem for many commuters between Shankill and  Booterstown. More morning peak departures from Greystones have also contributed to over-crowding on some trains. Mr. Fearn gave an undertaking to review the timetable if problems persist on the morning 8am to 8.30 departures.


There's some good news on smart cards. They're under testing at the moment and will be available within the next month or so. Eliminating cash will save on queing at stations. I see this as an interim measure though, and we're still waiting on the integrated ticketing that was promised in the Dublin Transportation Initiative Report back in 1994. I've met Tim Gaston who heads up teh project from the RPA on a couple of occasions, and the project is moving slowly because not all transport bodies are in agreement on what is needed.  If done correctly, integrated ticketing should simplify fares and allow for savings if you transfer from one mode to another (such as a DART bus combination). I fear this will only happen when the heads of all public transport companies are locked in a room and given only stale bread and water for a few weeks until they sort this out. The Oyster card in London is a good example of integrated ticketing that works reasonably well.


There's been a good take up of the Cycle to Work scheme by Irish Rail employees. 230 applications have been made from the 4,500 staff who work for Irish Rail. That's a 5% take-up rate, which is pretty impressive, given that so many of their staff live a short walk from rail stations. I went on to discuss the bikes on trains issue. I've been in endless correspondence with the company on this one. With the elimination of "guard's vans" it's been difficult in recent years to get your bike onto trains. Mr. Fearn says however that all inter-city trains are once again taking bikes. There's space for three on three carriage sets, and six on six-car trains. I raised the cost of travelling with a bike which can be as much as €8 on a single journey. Mr. Fearn pointed out that the three bike places involved the elimination of four seats, and that the spaces have to pay for themselves. One bit of good news is that from June it will be possible to pre-book space for bikes on the Irish Rail web-site, which is welcome news. Hopefully the website will provide better information on this topic, and API so that people can build better timetable or realtime info apps as @Ciaran_Lee suggested to me on Twitte . I still believe more needs to be done for cyclists. In Holland, 40% of train journeys involve a cycle to or from the station. A simple improvement would be to provide better cycle parking at stations. There are improvements underway at Connolly, but almost all other stations could benefit from improved cycle parking. Cllr. Mark Deary asked me to mention the need for secure bike-parking at Dundalk Station, and Mr. Fearn said he would investigate this. The Government's Smarter Travel document recommends that bikes should be taken off-peak on suburban rail, and Mr. Fearn said he will introduce a pilot scheme on the Maynooth and Drogheda services shortly. I urged him to implement this recommendation on the DART as soon as possible.


I've received a few specific queries that I'll respond to below:
-I was asked to mention poor early morning and Sunday service on the Kildare Line. Mr. Fearn said the Kildare town service was good from 6am, but that the stations further in to Dublin only have a service which start at 7am from Hazelhatch and Celbridge and on the issues closer to Dublin. He undertook to examine this. 
-I also had a query about a gap in the Connolly evening departures to Balbriggan. Mr. Fearn said the evening departures to Balbriggin were good, but that there is a gap due to DART departures that will be looked at in the next review.
-I had a question about the opening of Clongriffin Station. I am told that it is only a matter of weeks away. Interestingly the private sector picked up the tab on this one.
-One commuter asked me about the re-opening of Dunboyne Station. This will include re-opening the old Dunboyne Station, and a new station at a large park and ride site. Apparently construction is 75% finished and hopefully it will open up for traffic in late 2010.

We went on to discuss rail freight. Rail freight use has fallen dramatically in the last ten years, but there's some recent good news.  There's a lot of traffic involving the transport of zinc ore from Tara Mines to Dublin. There's up to four trains a day, and each of these takes the equivalent of forty lorrys off the road. There was also a significant amount of shale carried by rail out of Silvermines in Tipperary, but with the construction boom over this has tailed off. The Platin Cement also had a lot of rail traffic but this has diminished. Coillte however is sending a lot of timber by rail. Most of this traffic goes from the north-west to Waterford, and with an increase in felling in recent years this traffic is set to continue to grow.

The more interesting development is an increase in container trains in recent years. Norfolk Line sends pharmaceutical raw materials in containers by train up to Ballina, and Coke sends their syrup back out through Waterford every week. In addition, since last August International Warehousing and Transport has chartered two trains a week between Ballina and Dublin. There's also some interest now in running a container train on a route between the south-west and Dublin. Hopefully this trend will continue.


One final concern that was raised with me was drunkenness on trains. Mr. Fearn said that alcohol has been taken off the food trollies on the Dublin Kilkenny service, and acknowledged that stag partys had been drinking to excess. No suprises there.


All in all it was a productive meeting. I'm conscious that I was getting the positive side to the story, and if you have any particular concerns please comment on this posting or get in touch and I'll try and address them through direct correspondence with Irish Rail or the Minister for Transport, or by way of Dáil question. I intend to scour www.railusers.ie , www.iot.ie and www.inchicoreDARTstation.com for more commuters' and residents' concerns.

Quite a polarised issue, speed limits.
George's Street in Dún Laoghaire was pedestrianised a few years ago. After a year a majority of the councillors (bar the Greens who were on the Council at the time) decided to  allow cars back in. A month ago the Council brought in new speed limits across the County. On some roads the speed limits went up, but on others it came down, particularly in town centres such as on Georges Street. Mind you, the new 30kph speed limit didn't generate as much heat as Dublin City's new lower speed limit that came into place today.
I was surprised and disappointed that both the AA and the Dublin City Business Association are critical of the new lower speed limits. Both bodies state that they're concerned about the environment. I'd have thought that any measure to reduce noise pollution and accidents would be welcome. Plus, if a pedestrian is hit at 30 kph 95% of the time they survive. At 50 kph they have a 45% chance of losing their life.Speed kills.
Some are saying that this will add to journey times in a car, but if you do the math the most it can add is ninety seconds, and that's keeping to the limit all the way through town.
I had a look at the map on the Dublin City Council website, and cross-referenced this to CSO data.  It seems to me that over 15,000 people live in the area that will be affected, and that includes at least 1,500 children. There's also at least six schools, and several third level institutions within the cordon. Anything that makes them safer makes sense to me.
Others are saying that there's not too many accidents happening in the city centre. Well, in figures that I've seen, nine people lost their lives within the 30 kph area in traffic accidents since 2003, over thirty-six were seriously injured, and over four hundred suffered minor injuries.
I'd imagine that both tourists and residents alike will feel the better for being able to have a conversation on a footpath in the middle of town again, rather than shouting over the noise of traffic.  It would be nice to think that the Quays will be less like a race-track. I'm sure that users of the DublinBikes scheme will feel safer. All in all I believe it's a good decision that will make the city a more, well, civilised place. 
Now let's take a leaf from the Dutch book and put in 15kph speed limits on residential streets. Then, maybe our children  can feel safe playing outside, rather then spending to much time on their Nintendos, instead of exploring their neighbourhood.

That's the view from the dam in Roundwood in Co. Wicklow, looking across the filter beds that supply part of Dublin's water supply. It gives you some idea of the investment required to bring clean water to your kitchen tap.There's a fine walk you take around the lake that takes a couple of hours.



For the last few years supplies have been at a knife-edge in metropolitan Dublin with engineers struggling to supply enough water to cope with the city's expansion through the boom years.


In recent weeks pipe-leaks caused by the cold weather have compunded the problem, leading to lack of supply, water off notices and low pressure around the city. In Dún Laoghaire the Council has set up an emergency blog to update users on the current difficulties, and provided water tankers to badly-hit areas.



All sorts of options are being looked at for increasing water supply to Dublin, including contentious proposals to pipe water from the Shannon or Barrow rivers. The Dublin Water Supply Project website  explores some of the options. A century of under-investment in water supply has contributed to the challenge that we face, and the City Council website gives an overview of where our water comes from. Since the Greens came into Government in 2007 John Gormley has increased the amount of investment in water services, and currently half a billion Euro is being spent per year. Apart from lack of supply, the quality issue is important, and there were significant outbreaks of Cryptosporidium around the country in recent years.


I'm not a great fan of the addition of fluoride to municipal water supplies, but many dentists say that it reduces fillings, but perhaps we should ensure that our children are consuming less sugar in the first instance. Many are concerned at the principal of mass medication, but it needs to be pointed out that adding iodine to salt has dramatically reduced the incidence of rickets. mental retardation. A study is currently planned to determine the levels of fluoride in the Irish population, and this should lead to an informed decision on the issue.



In New York City most of the municipal water flows directly from reservoirs without treatment. However over there, they have a fine history of protecting watershed from development over the last hundred years. Closer to home we have allowed significant development to take place upstream of both the Roundwood and Blessington reservoirs, both of which supply the capital with water. Perhaps a stricter planning regime would allow us to spend less on purifying and cleansing our water before it is piped into Dublin.



The new Programme for Government that the Green Party negotiated with Fianna Fáil back in October of last year contains a proposal to install water meters and charge for excessive use. Richard Tol from the ESRI believes that all water  should be charged for. Either way I believe that it makes sense to put a price on resources such as water. Naturally enough there are objections to charging for a resource that we often take for granted, and Joe has a meeting scheduled for the 13th February. Jaundiced rural dwellers will no doubt point out (as they did when waste charges were introduced) that they have been paying for water for years through their Group Water Schemes.



I feel we need to continue investment in reducing leaks throughout the system, but some sort of end of pipe charge can concentrate minds on using water resources wisely.

Believe me, you don't want to trip. 


I did and I'm suffering the consequences. I'm recovering from sprained rib muscles from a fall last Monday- quite painful, even with Difene, Paracetamol and all the benefits of modern medication. I'd like to say I was hill-walking or doing something exotic, but I tripped on the stairs in NEXT in Blackrock Shopping Centre, and have been taking it handy ever since.


Meanwhile the Killiney Alps have never looked so good. After a chilly photo-shoot featuring solar-powered street lighting with Jaune Hendy from Ecotec and Peter Moloney at Killiney Shopping Centre I headed up the hill along Ballinclea Road to a winter scene overlooking Dublin Bay. The kids had a ball - tobogging down the hill, and hundreds of others were having a great time.


So far Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has been doing a good job informing the public about the action they are taking to deal with the cold snap (or maybe that should be a prolonged break). They've been posting updates on the news scroller on their website, with a lot of useful info on gritting and water conservation during the cold weather.


Local Authorities are in charge of maintaining most roads, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown have a map showing which roads are due for gritting here. I'm pleased that they understand the need to grit footpaths as much as roads. Nationally the Emergency Response Co-ordination Committee has been meeting, and John Gormley has stated that the Defence Forces are available to assist any Local Authority that needs additional help. 


In the meantime, a little common sense can go a long way towards helping us through, and here's some practical advice:


1. If you're able, clean the footpath outside your home. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes with a spade or shovel. It reduces the risk of neighbours slipping and sends out a signal that all is safe and well.


2. Call into any neighbour that you haven't seen out and about. An offer to pop down to Londis to pick up a few messages will be well received.


3. Try not to drive, but if you have to venture out, shift up to second gear once the car is moving, and keep the revs low. When slowing down let the gears do most of the work, and avoid sudden braking. There's good advice on the radio, RTE news website and AA Roadwatch's website and Twitter feed, as well as Dublin Bus and Irish Rail.


4. When walking, take short steps (penguin walk, as someone said to me yesterday). A pair of old socks can give great grip, if worn outside your shoes. Dress in layers and make sure to wear a thick hat, gloves and scarf.


5. If you have frozen pipes,  a hairdryer and extension lead can help deal with the issue inside the house. If the problem lies outside you can contact your local Council. Dún Laoghaire Rathdown information is here, and their emergency number is 677 8844.


6. Keep an eye on the weather forecast. Met Eireann have a good Dublin area forecast here, and Wind Guru is a bit more techie, but looks further ahead here.


Enjoy the snow if you can, but be careful out there.

I had a natter yesterday on the Last Word with Matt Cooper on TodayFM about postcodes. 

Liz McManus from the Labour Party was on with me, and to put it frankly I was gob-smacked that she and her party are currently opposing the introduction of postcodes.

Postcodes (sometimes known as location codes) are a way of making it easier and quicker for post to get delivered. They also function as location codes that will allow us to better plan for services in the future whether it’s new schools or health services.

They will save lives by ensuring that emergency services can pinpoint a specific address. John Kidd of National fulltime Fire-fighters, SIPTU said:
 “It is no exaggeration to say lives will be saved”.

Dozens of street names are duplicated in Dublin, and even a moment’s confusion in despatching an ambulance can make the crucial difference. There’s a Quarry Road in Shankill, as well as one in Cabra. There’s also a Pembroke Lane in Dublin 2 as well as Dublin 4. I know this because I remember my sister telling me about the Guards battering down the door of one of her neighbours looking for a drug dealer a few years ago. The unfortunate women had to inform them that there were two Pembroke Lanes before they stopped attacking her front door with a sledgehammer.

There’s a Ballybeg in Antrim, Carlow, Down, Waterford and one in Wicklow. I’ve no idea how many ‘Old Bog Roads’ we have in Ireland but chances are that more than one or two squad cars, ambulances or letters have gone to the wrong one because we don’t have a postcode system.

Postcodes will make it easier to provide joined up government. It’ll make it easier for the Central Statistics Office to allow census data to be analysed and correlated to information held by the Department of Health, Education or the Revenue Commissioners. This will allow us to to better plan for school numbers or health facilities. The Geodirectory database developed by An Post and the Ordnance Survey is a good step in the right direction to providing postcodes in Ireland, but it needs to go further in order to allow the public, businesses and semi-state agencies to take full advantage of the benefits.

You won’t lose your old address. That’ll still be used in mailing. You’ll still be able to put Dublin 4, or 14 on an envelope, but it may also come with something along the lines of D04 123 or D14 567 to better pinpoint your position. Satnavs will operate better, and so will home delivery. Some companies have come up with good ideas for postcodes already.

I’ve been posting out 35,000 newsletters every six months or so for the last eight years. An Post as far as I know still can’t allow me the option of sending them only to constituents in the Dún Laoghaire Dáil constituency. With postcodes accurately determining the boundaries, this type of delivery will be a piece of cake. Of course direct marketing companies will be rubbing their hands with glee, but if it is done correctly it will be possible to opt out of corporate direct mailings from the An Post database. Sure, it will open up the market, but that creates opportunities as well as challenges for An Post and others. I’d say it’ll create and protect jobs. It will take us finally into the 20th, if not the 21st century.

If data protection Issues can be successfully resolved, and I don’t see why they can’t,  it’ll allow us to burrow down into data that is lost by the law of large numbers. 

-Has access to third level really increased over the last decade for people in disadvantaged areas, or do the statistics simply show that there was an influx of graduates into a gentrifying neighbourhood? 

-Is there a cancer cluster of statistical significance beside an old landfill site? 

Location codes will allow us to answer these questions. 

Of course you can still do much of this number crunching with existing data, but it’s difficult to correlate information for the Bray Road, or Main Street,  or Blackrock Stradbrook to other data. Postcodes  will provide the matrix or the glue that will allow for better government to happen overnight.

The majority of countries have post codes. Afghanistan doesn’t, Angola doesn’t, and I thought Albania didn’t but Wikipedia tells me it now does. 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union have postal code systems. In Canada even Santa Claus’s factory at the North Pole has a postcode. It’s HOH OHO of course.

As far as I can see we are the last country in the EU without a publicly accessible postcode system. Liz McManus feels it may cost up to €50 million to introduce. I suspect the costs will be closer to €15 million, and that the money will be recouped quickly through efficiencies in the delivery of services.

This is a modernising initiative, and is long overdue. The days of old-style protectionism are over. I fully support this initiative.

The Gods were laughing at us as the Climate Change talks finished up in Copenhagen. 

The temperature kept dropping and heavy snow fell not just over Denmark, but over northern Europe and the United States. That's a pic I took of the 'Hopenhagen' globe that hosted various events just before I boarded a night-train back home to Ireland.


Oxfam described the deal as a 'Cop-out', and as a 'triumph of spin over substance'. Sure there is a mention of the need to keep world's temperature increase to under 2 degrees, and a fund of $100 billion is mentioned, but that's a goal, not a commitment.


I'm beginning to think of the Climate Change issue as being similar to the layers of an onion. The outer layer consists of the need to convince people that the world is warming. Given the amount of conspiracy theorists out there, combined with some poor academic standards from the boffins at the University of East Anglia, a lot more work is necessary to argue the science in a clear level-headed way.


The second challenge is to adopt the two degree target. Some countries, particularly the more vulnerable ones are arguing that the limit should be lower - 1.5 degrees, and the debate over the limiting the average temperature increase isn't fully resolved.

That brings us on the 'parts per million' (ppm) argument. That's a measurement of how many ppm of carbon dioxide we wish to limit emissions at. Bill McKibben from 350.org was lobbying hard for a limit of 350ppm, and we're currently at 387ppm, so that would involve significant reductions. Charles David Keeling's pioneering work at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii showed how levels of carbon dioxide have risen rapidly over the last fifty years as illustrated in the Keeling Curve. 

Given that different countries have varying levels of emissions per capita the principle of 'contraction and convergence' encapsulates a sensible  approach to lowering global emissions. The more developed countries need to reduce their emissions and the developing countries should be allowed to increase emissions, ultimately resulting in the same level in all countries that would stabilise average global temperatures.

Ireland's emissions increased dramatically during the Tiger years to between eleven and seventeen tonnes per head of population depending on the source you use, highr than most other countries. That's why we set a target of reducing emissions by around 3% per year in the Programme for Government, and we're bring forward a Climate Change Bill to ensure that all branches of Government play their part in achieving this.

Government policies can help to limit emissions. We've changed the road tax regime so you pay €100 per year on a cleaner vehicle and €2000 for a high-polluter. We've also racked up the building regulations by 40% and intend to go further in a couple of years time. Home energy grants  help encourage people to upgrade their home and save money on heating and emissions. The new carbon levy at €15 per tonne will help motivate people to reduce emissions



At the heart of the onion is the way we live our lives. Government must provide carrots as well as sticks to help us change our ways. A lot of the side-events that I attended in Copenhagen were focussed on low-carbon jobs and I'm fairly confident that much of the new jobs in Ireland will come from solutions that help limit emissions in energy, agriculture, construction and transport.


The journey back from Copenhagen was a slow one. I seem to have been luck enough to have caught one of the few Eurostars that made it through from Brussels to London on Saturday, but all the trains were delayed. I met a  great guy from Nobber, Co. Meath on the night-boat on his way back from selling christmas trees in England. His last name was Gogarty and we joked about how between the sound-bites from James Gogarty a few years ago and Paul Gogarty in the last few weeks, he couldn't open his mouth without people expecting colourful language.


The Copenhagen process will continue, with another Conference of the Parties (COP16) scheduled for Mexico next December. Hopefully by then we'll have more commitments on the table from China, the United States and other pivitol countries so that meaningful action can take place to tackle the challenge of our changing climate.

The pushmi-pullyu is a mythical animal that features in Hugh Loftus's children's stories.


It is a gazelle-unicorn cross with two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. When it tries to move, both heads try to go in opposite directions. That's not unlike the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference Conference here in Copenhagen. COP15 stands for the fifteenth Conference of the Parties Parties, and the next twenty-four hours will make or break a deal.


At the Plenary this evening there were signs of optomism that may result in negotiations through the night that would push the texts along for the final work by national leaders in the morning. 


Fingers crossed.


Today I attended two sessions hosted by the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian Environmental research body. The worhshops should have taken place in the Bella Centre, but because most NGOs haven't been able to gain access, they had moved into the basement of a cafe in central Copenhagen, which gave me a chance for a brief but enjoyable walk through the city centre where I You-Tubed a few bikes.


The first session was on clean jobs - what we used to call green jobs. The speakers from India, South Africa, India and the UK showcased a report 'Low-Carbon jobs in an Inter-Connected World' published by the Global Climate Network.


The second workshop was entitled Fair Climate: US Constituencies perspectives. Gloria Reuben (aka Jeanie Boulet of ER) gave an emotional account of her visit to the coal-mining areas of West Virginia, and spoke about the lobbying power of Big Coal. Jacqueline Patterson from Women of Color United for Climate Justice ticked all the boxes, and spoke well about issues ranging from gender vulnerability to community gardening programmes in the United States. She's just back from an eight week, fifteen state  'Road Tour and Mobilization' where she heard the views and experiences of U.S. women of color in this pivotal era of climate change.  


Jerome Ringo from the Apollo Alliance spoke in words that seemed inspired by Dr. King as he stated:


"Today must be the beginning of the answer to your grandchildren when they ask you in fifteen or twenty years time,'what did you do in Copenhagen?'"


 It loses something when written down, but he spoke beautifully, and from the heart. 


John Grant from an organisation with  brilliant name - '100 Black Men of Atlanta' spoke about empowering young people and wanting his kids to be able to see the stars in a sky free from light pollution when they grew up. The speakers were strong on rhetoric, but they were a great counter-point to the dry research and turgid negotiating texts that dominate the Conference.


We went back to the Bella Centre and met Niamh Garvey from Trócaire (blogging here), John Sweeney from NUI Maynooth, Colin Roche from Oxfam and Pat Finnegan from Grian. Niamh talked about how a seventeen year old at the opening session last week talked about how negotiations had started in 1992, the year she was born, and that it was about time negotiations concluded.




We left for our train back across the bridge to Sweden where we're staying at around 11.30pm, leaving John Gormley and his staff from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to burn the midnight oil and prepare for his speech to the Environment Ministers' Plenary around 1 O'Clock in the morning. It had started snowing on the way back, and there were some very Christmassy looking bikes outside the railway Station in Malmo.  


Hopefully there'll be progress in the talks overnight. 

"I can promise you a first class ticket to Heaven, but don't use it straight away"
That was Archbishop Tutu speaking earlier this morning making a plea for action on behalf of the most vulnerable countries that are being affected by climate change. He and Mary Robinson bookended an emotional session where we heard from citizens of Uganda, Bangladesh, Peru and Tuvalu discussing the challenges facing their countries.
Of course countries like Bangladesh have always had natural disasters that claimed lives, but climate change can increase storm surges in the Bay of Bengal that can swamp low-lying areas and kill tens of thousands. Low-lying nations like Tuvalu face increasing salinisation of farmland from storms and rising ocean levels. The guy with the hat on in the picture is Cayetano Huanca, a farmer from Peru. His village is prone to water shortages and hunger due to melting glacier. Mary Robinson pointed out that "300,000 died from the effects of climate last year."
They were speaking at an event hosted by Oxfam billed as the world's first international climate hearing at COP15 the United Nations Climate Change Conference here in Copenhagen. Thankfully I missed the eight hour queues in the freezing cold yesterday and got in early enough to catch the Oxfam hosted meeting.
I went on from there to a discussion of family planning and climate change, and met delegates from Ethiopia, the Maldives, Croatia and New Zealand. There was broad agreement that access to reliable family planning methods was the key to lifting many out of poverty.
After lunch I went on to a discussion on the 'Transition to a Green Growth Economy'. The panel included the Danish Minister of Economics and Business Affairs Lene Espersen, Nils Smedegaard Andersen from Maersk and Thomas Friedman, NY Times columnist. Thomas is trying to persuade Americans that green isn't a 'sissy' topic, and he appears to be succeeding. He said "I don't want it to be all about taxation and regulation, I want to encourage the engineers and innovators who'll help us tackle all of this."
There's 192 countries represented here this week, and the negociation gradually shifts from civil servants and scientists to the political players in this second week of the conference. I suspect the Copenhagen Conference won't save the world, but it will help focus attention on the necessity and the opportunities for change. From my perspective its an opportunity to explore the key issues and hear about the approaches that other countries are applying to the challenge.

That's the Dún Laoghaire Greens giving me a send-off in the picture.
I'm headed for Copenhagen, and I set off on my 'slow travel' trip on Sunday lunchtime, after a coffee and a 'danish' in the Ferry Terminal in Dún Laoghaire. Tonight I'm in a hotel on the Euston Road, and tomorrow I'll travel by Eurostar to Brussels, then on to Cologne where I'll board a night-sleeper to the Danish capital, hopefully in time to hear Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu address the United Nations Climate Change Conference. I'm also hoping to attend a session on family planning and climate change - a thorny subject, as well as workshops on planning and transportation
It'll be good to have some time to think, and to read on the journey, both of which seem to have become luxuries in the last few years.
I found my 1977 copy of Amory Lovin's "Soft Energy Paths" behind the washing machine the other night, and that's part of my reading material. I've also brought John Houghton's fourth edition of "Global Warming, the complete briefing". Herman Daly's "Beyond Growth" is also packed, along with David MacKay's "Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air". The Clerk from the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security has also provided me with extensive briefing material, ranging from a Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government summary, to the UN Review of Ireland's most recent submission, as well as the current US Senate position on Climate Change.
It's been a good week for tackling greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland. John Gormley delivered his third Carbon Budget, and published the framework for the Climate Change Bill 2010. Brian Lenihan's budget also introduced a carbon levy at €15 a tonne. That'll add around 5c to a litre of petrol. It won't change behaviour overnight, but it will send a market signal that we're beginning to take the issue seriously
The 1330 Dún Laoghaire-Holyhead ferry arrives into Holyhead just after the 1530 express train to Crewe leaves the platform. It's an annoying example of a lack of joined-up thinking, and helps explain why the sail-rail trip to London takes a similar amount of time as it did 100 years ago. Still, the trip was sociable: I ended up talking to a truck driver who was on his way back to Newport after delivering a second-hand driver unit to Holyhead for shipping to Ireland. There's great demand for them in Ireland in the last year or so, and apparently they sell for around £25,000 sterling- a bargain, or so I'm told.
The HSS ferry is scheduled to be withdrawn though from early January, and hopefully will be replaced with a decent alternative. Cheap air travel has sucked the passenger numbers off the ferries, partly because aviation has up to now been exempt from taxation. This is due to change though due to agreements hammered out at predecessors to the Copenhagen conference, so hopefully there'll shortly be a more level playing field between different types of travel that will take into account the carbon footprint. Interestingly the Arriva train down to Chester advertised its green credentials, as does the Virgin train service from there to London.
We may not get a binding political agreement in Copenhagen, but the presence of thousands of delegates (as well as protestors) shows that climate change has to be taken seriously.

Cold, wet and windy in Dún Laoghaire today.

That's the view looking out from the Coal Harbour in Dún Laoghaire on a blustery afternoon. At least we're fortunate enough not to be flooded, or have the roof blown off as has happened with the unfortunate residents in Carrickmines Manor on Glenamuck Road. Thankfully no-one appears to have been injured. Hazel Melbourne said she felt like she was in a scene from the Wizard of Oz when she saw the roof fly past her second floor apartment at 8.30am. according to the Irish Times website.

The floods in the south and west sound appalling. Our own home was flooded several years ago when our youngest was only a few weeks old and we had to escape over the back garden wall and pass the children to helpful Gardaí on higher ground. That brutal combination of damp, fear, destruction and uncertainty for all those affected by flooding can be soul-destroying. I'm glad to say that the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea told me today that he's instructed the Army's Chief of Staff to ensure that troops will help with the initial household clean-up as well as the emergency works prior to, and during flooding.

The National Flood Hazard mapping website was set up after the floods back in 2002 and provides information about places that are at risk from flooding. The OPW's Flooding website also contains a lot of useful information, particularly on practical information if you're currently at risk (and have access to the web).
I'm still not convinced though that there's enough joined up thinking between planning authorities and the OPW. Minister John Gormley has brought forward the draft "Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines", but the stable door had been left open long before.

There's been far too many images on the news in the last few days of recently built buildings under water. This week's floods may not be due to climate change according to Paul Cunningham's Tweet referencing UCD Professor of Meteorology Ray Bates. as the North Atlantic is apparently experiencing a cooling period. That doesn't take away the higher air temperatures that increased rainfall, though. Regardless of this week's weather, Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele's pointed out last night in his excellent EPA sponsored lecture in the Mansion House that the risk of extreme weather events is set to increase, and that's a good reason to do something about climate change. He is the Head of Climatology and Environmental Sciences, University Catholique de Louvain, and is also the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, so he should know!

IFA President Padraig Walshe has been hitting out at Government spending millions of euro on flood defences, saying the money would be bettter spent on drainage. Actually, I'd feel that more money should be spent on encouraging 'soakage', rather than drainage as this can reduce the risk of flash flooding. More forestry can also absorb high rainfall before it sluices into rivers, and that's what Trevor Sargent is working on through the new Programme for Government. One thing is certain though: the unprecedented levels of development over the last decade resulted in more concrete, tarmacadam and other impermeable land surfaces, and that has contributed to the floods.

Good planning is an important tool that can be used to tackle the increased risk of flooding, and is an issue I've raised before. It's something that our Councillors in Bray -Ciaran O'Brian, Caroline Burrell and Deirdre de Burca used to challenge the rezoning of the flood plain in Bray beside the River Dargle when a combination of councillors from Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail voted to rezone the Bray Golf Course lands. Ciaran O'Brian is currently challenging the planning application on the rezoned lands at An Bord Pleanála.

Meanwhile Bill Nolan is worried about John Gormley's plans to place a windfall tax of 80% on rezoned lands. We see it as a way of implementing the recommendations of the Kenny Report on Building land some thirty-five years after its publication. Mr. Nolan writes that that implications for the banking, property and planning industry may be far reaching. So they should be. Phil HoganTD from Fine Gael speaking at a meeting of Carlow County Council's Strategic Policy Committee has described John's proposals as "social engineering at its worst" and went on state:"I am sure the Minister means well but it reminds me of Soviet dictators."
Phil, business as usual is not an option. The laissez-faire approach that the two major parties have espoused has contributed significantly to the poor quality of development and planning that has left thousands of families flooded over the last week.

The Green Party is working hard in government to raise the bar for planning and development, and to tackle climate change. No-one ever said it would be easy.