Tag Archives: Environment

Local Democracy Ard Fheis Motion

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My proposing speech on local democracy motion:

That this Ard-Fheis calls for the implementation of measures that would provide for greater participation in local democracy. (Sallins Cumann, Kildare North)

Opening

Minister, Teachta Daila, Senators, A delgaidi, etc etc,

It is a great honour to address this Ard Fheis.

Intro

In proposing this motion I intend to address a twin track of public representation and more generally citizen involvement in public institutions and volunteer sector as a whole.

Public Rep versus Private Employment

Delegates I put it to you that current structures preclude large sections of today’s society from involvement in local democracy be it at elected representative or volunteer activist.

Pressures of Modern living including commuting, raising a family, increasing demands of the workplace make it difficult for all but the most motivated individuals to find time for participation in community activity.

Furthermore we risk alienating a significant pool of talent from the ranks of public representatives if we fail to recognise the conflict that exists between private employment and public representation, certainly at local authority level.

The duties of local representation encompass a significant weekly workload, an availability of contact and access to constituents as well as journalists and other stakeholders as well as regular meetings to conduct official council business usually scheduled during business hours.

However council business is still largely regarded as an honorary or part-time occupation certainly for remuneration purposes.

Town Council is regarded as entirely a position of honour whilst after expenses county or city councillors take away perhaps one fifth the salary of a senator certainly not a living wage.

All of this poses great challenges for any individual who must combine private employment with public duties both through financial necessity and because the nature of their occupation does not lend itself to availability during business hours.

As a consequence demographics of the body politic are not fully reflective of the greater public, the majority of whom are 9-5, PAYE workers, as only certain professions can accommodate the demands of public service.

Arguably it also denigrates the representation of citizens where advocates must juggle demands of external employment with public representation as priority conflicts are not easily reconciled –

This also leads in many cases to a dilemma of double-jobbing –
And in a crisis who comes first – the boss or the constituent?

Delegates I believe the remuneration levels for councillors should be revised and made reflective of the workload and demands of the position. If we are to attract candidates from the broader demographic spectrum this is a necessary step.

In the meantime I believe there are certain measures which could help reconcile the conflict –
Council business, certainly official meetings, could be made analogous to Jury Service or training with the Reserve Defence Forces for example which currently enjoy special status.

Legislation mandating the release of employees attaining positions in public service to mandatory leave facilities akin to parental leave legislation could be enacted.

Citizen Involvement

Broadening the argument to general citizen involvement an overlapping series of initiatives could be piloted to enable greater participation in community or council activity for both elected officials and general citizen involvement.

Whilst there is no substitute to face-to-face meetings for key decisions or introductions, web technologies offer many possibilities for remote conferencing and for online collaboration reducing the dependency on meetings and physical presence.

Individuals on a team can participate at times of own preference, collaborate on documents, posting opinions to web boards, using internet technologies for both remote meetings and to bring together offline contributions.

Also as corporate social responsibility grows in importance in the private sector, employees could be encouraged to participate in community activism with support from employers. Similar programmes already exist towards many charitable activities such as the Junior Achievement organisation where employers allow employees time to work in

There is no reason this could not be rolled out to community and local government participation.
Public sector employers could lead by example in this regard.

Other options may include financial allowances such as tax credits for involvement in public service duties.

Conclusion

Delegates let us recognise the increasing role and workload our councillors perform and let us adapt to the demands of changing modern society. I propose that councillors should enjoy sufficient remuneration to be freed from secondary occupations and in doing so that we acknowledge the huge contribution they make to local and community process.

We would also enable a currently under-represented generation and demographic to embrace the political process.

I believe this would enhance our party, our councils and our communities in the process.

Housing Regulations Ard Fheis Motion

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That this Ard-Fheis recognises the need for careful planning of residential areas, with provision made in high-density housing areas to ensure adequate parking facilities, sound-proofing, privacy and protection from anti-social behaviour. (Sallins Cumann, Kildare North)

Opening

Minister, Teachta Daila, Senators, A delgaidi, etc etc,

Intro

Modern society sees concentration of population around our capital cities and similar conglomerations around our other urban centres.

To meets the demands of housing accommodation within concentrated areas many developments have embarked upon a high density model with X units to an acre for example to maximise use of space and deliver affordable housing within confines of space and location.

Delegates however I now call for a review of planning guidelines and a concerted effort to ensure quality of housing is not allowed to suffer under pressures of rapid development.

Many issues emerge from our recent residential developments.

In some cases parking facilities are found to be inadequate. Complaints, Lorries, truck bays.

Sound-proofing is another significant issue that is frequently raised. Too often shortcuts in construction lead to technical faults in barrier walls which lead to unacceptable levels of noise pollution in many modern homes.

Privacy is always a challenge in high density developments. Open plan developments are becoming common on newer estates as private gardens are replaced with shared spaces and…

I believe this is contrary to the Irish psyche. As if proof were even needed for Irish obsession with land the success of allotment scheme Naas UDC…

In this scenario incidents of anti-social behaviour can be magnified and in the absence of adequate planning safeguards can lead to a Darwinist society

Confusion over standards, leniency over implementation

I believe revised planning protocols are now necessary to address these issues.

Parking – Lorry Bays

Sound Proofing – Proper controls, enforcement and inspection

Houses built in 70’s this not an issue

Open Spaces – proper delineation of boundaries

Sunny side of the street

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Ambitious pan-continental energy project
The grid across the Med and beyond

(Disclaimer – this post was written on holidays and I’ve revived it now – could be a case of too much sun in every sense)
Finally another pan-European story that caught my eye this week (great thing about being on hols, having the international editions of papers like the Guardian and FT double bonus time to read them) concered some kind of cross-continental energy grid which would hook up everything from geo-thermal geyser power in Iceland to massive solar farms powered by the Saharan sun in North Africa. Apparently the proposal has been brought to the table quite recently by scientists and energy boffins and promises cheap, clean and renewable energy sources to supply all of Europes needs into the future. Brown and Sarkosy have given the thumbs up it seems and the next steps are an advanced pilot project. The grid idea is not particularly new but tapping into the Saharan solar potential would seem to be. I became a bit cynical reading the detail as it appears the European contributions to the project are really backup sources (such as the wind energy off UK and geo-thermal as mentioned) but that the Lions share comes from the dark continent. Just got me wondering was this some other new form of colonialism, our African friends “joining” the European community when they have something to give – a lot to give, in fact a lot more than the rest put together in this particular project, and I just hope they’re getting a decent quid pro quo out of it. Maybe I think too much..

Bottling it in Sallins

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Latest thing I’ve been working on is the provision of recycling bins in Sallins. It’s something that’s always irritated me to be honest, that there were no local facilities, and it’s been into Naas or down to Clane with me and my bottles for the past several years.

Bottle Banks in Action

The Naas facilities are close enough by but they’re overcrowded and awkward to access e.g. the ones at Tesco are in a very tight little corner of the car park. The Ballycane ones are better with open space in front and the Osprey/KCC campus has them but it’s something every village should have and Sallins and Kilcullen remain the only large villages in the county without.

So after Christmas I finally cracked. With a stockpile of glassware and empties of various sorts I resolved not to recycle until I could do so locally. First week of January I rang the Council Environment Section and spoke to Dara Wyer whom I’d dealt with previously when I kicked off my composting operation a few years back. Dara explained the council and himself as Environment officer were very keen to get such facilities in place but the locality had to meet them half way with site provision etc. There were a number of regulations such as access for the collection lorries, distance from residences, safe and open access, secured monitored site and so forth which had to be met.

I already had the Waterways campus (next to the train station) in mind as it is a mixed use development combining retail (SuperValu, Dominos, Ladbrokes), offices, services (medical centre, pharmacist, crèche), residential (apartments) and leisure (hotel). When I approached the owners, GK Developments they were willing to facilitate providing there was no imposition on themselves or their tenants. Similarly SuperValu as the anchor tenant were quite open to the idea. It’s a common pattern to bundle your recycling and your shopping and if there’s an increased footfall they won’t have any complaints.

The location should also be convenient to residents in and around Monread and it gives anyone who drives to the train station the option of incorporating recycling into their commuting routine as they can offload the boot while they’re there.

At this stage the site owner, key tenants, the council and myself are on the one page. We still need to identify the exact location within the complex and the various planning conditions need to be satisfied but I would say we are a good ways there. I will keep on it and fingers crossed we will have those local recycling bins soon.

I don’t know if my back garden can take many more empties!

The Five Mile Rule

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I’m a member of a group called ToastMasters where members take turns to practice public speaking with a different technical focus on each assignment. Last night I gave a talk in Kildare town on the importance of good eating and good shopping. Full text below.

Farmers Market

“Opening
We all know the importance of food – our bodies remind us daily. But do we eat to live or do we live to eat? The balance must be somewhere in between. But I truly believe a life of ready meals and routine dinners to be a life less lived.

We are all aware now of the nutritional deficit of such products – but there is also the dearth of character, of experience, of enjoyment, of simple living to be lost in the consumption of such fare.

The slow food movement was founded in protest at the emergence of convenience eating. It promotes slow, careful cultivation of meals to share with best of local produce and ideally home sourced ingredients. But fast food can be equally wholesome – how long does it take to grill a chop with a sprinkle of sage? Or a pan of mushrooms and garlic on a slice of wholemeal toast?

I put it to you this evening that the creation and consumption of good food, cooked simply and with local ingredients can enrich the fullest of lives and yield dividends in mental, physical and social well being.

Tradition
For a time in the modern age there was a tendency to scoff at bygone ways. But that wheel appears to have gone full circle as the fast pace of modern living brings a renaissance of traditional ways. We realise some of what has been lost is worth bringing back.

A lesson in what may be the dying days of the Celtic Tiger, many of our older recipes were derived on the basis of simple thrift –a desire/need to maximise the yield from each purchase and to ensure waste was minimal. Aside from economy in our environmental age we have a lot to learn from such ways as the old jingle “Vicarage Mutton” based on a novel by Somerset Maugham reminds us how far the weekly roast would stretch:

“Hot on Sunday, cold on Monday, hashed on Tuesday, Minced on Wednesday, curried on Thursday, Broth on Friday, cottage pie on Saturday”

Many of our traditions as to recipe combinations or condiments derive from simple necessity and good housekeeping by previous generations.

The famous Cornish Pasties are shaped so that the miner can consume the mass without spreading his coal covered hands over the food..

Apple goes with pork as fallen orchard became a feeding ground for the pigs each Autumn.. And tastes change over time – remember oysters were once the rubbish of the sea..

Many of the finest cuts are today considered unclean – such as offal or trotters – but these simple pleasures were prized by latter generations – there is much to be gained in their return…

Local Produce / Authentic Tastes
Of course the best place to source our ingredients remains our own locality. What better dish than one that has been raised/grown/cultivated in the land around us? The 5 mile rule of good environment maintains that we should fill our plate from produce at most 5 miles from our door.

Whilst this may be impractical at times it is a worthy aspiration and I believe we should strive to support local business in this regard. Better for us better for our community better for everyone.

The advent of supermarkets and mass transit of goods has had many benefits removing exotic ingredients as the preserve of the rich – we can all now enjoy such treats. But something has been lost as well – not just the environmental undesirability of transporting a crate of veg 10,000 miles to your plate but also the excitement of fresh ingredients and the idea of seasonality has been undermined. How often does a child or an adult say they don’t like a vegetable or they find a fruit bland when the reality is they have never to taste that product in the flower of its freshness, bursting forth with original flavour. Supermarket attendants are perplexed when one asks what is in season – everything is in season all the time, with GM and air miles from any part of the world there is no such thing as an unavailable item. But at what cost? Fresh tomatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, lamb in spring, root veg in Winter, mackerel in august etc etc

Another example for an island nation we have a shockingly low consumption of fish – scallops, mussels, wing of ray, skate, haddock, crab, cod, bass, sardines, mackerel, whitbait.

We can however create this excitement for ourself – farmers’ markets now occur in most localities, our own Naas one is every Saturday morning. And what about the excitement in the random selection from week to week as each harvest brings a fresh crop of often forgotten vegetables – celeriac, scots ??, leeks, mushrooms fás aon hoiche…grown in the night

Your local butcher or vegmonger is a good place to go also – not only can you access good food at reasonable prices but expert knowledge on the different cuts or herbs and advice on treatments.

Nolans on the main street – Swans on the Green – Morans in Sallins and Prosperous – and many more

But support them now before it is too late

Good Food Cooked Simply
Lastly some simple recipes for living. Good food, cooked simply, right combinations. Keep it simple. Extract natural flavours – cook slowly with a tough joint, barely sear a fillet steak. Use the juice for gravy, drop of wine in the roasting pan and whip up a sauce from all the goodness. Veg water for soup. Stock from first principles. Make a batch and freeze. Build up a storecupboard. Use herbs. Thyme, basil, rosemary, sage – plucked from your own garden at best but any fresh will do. Use interesting veg – fennel, celeriac. Lets enjoy the life we have. And a good glass of wine to wash it all down.

Conclusion
Experiment, improvise. Educate your palate.

Good food can lift the spirits – elevate the senses – enrich the palate and awaken the soul

Anyone can cook – Keep it simple – but keep it interesting – Anyone can cook – you could – and you should!”