Brian Cowen wants to improve the planet for his children. Here's how he could help to do it, writes FRANK McDONALD.
IN HIS stirring speech to the Dáil after being elected as Taoiseach on Wednesday, Brian Cowen made it clear that his Government would achieve its goals by "avoiding the mistakes of the past". As he said, "we know only too well from our relatively recent economic history that the wrong policies, the wrong decisions, the wrong behaviour, can carry a very high price . . . " His Green Party colleagues were particularly heartened by what he had to say about addressing climate change: "As a father, I feel an obligation to make Ireland a better environment for my children. As Taoiseach I must provide leadership so we deliver on this for all of our children and future generations". And though the challenge was enormous, he was "fully committed to leading this change".
Mr Cowen is well aware of the deteriorating economic scenario as a result of the global "credit crunch" and the knock-on effects of incipient recession in the US. He also knows that the Government's revenues are falling well short of projections made as recently as last December, when he was minister for finance. So here are 10 things he and his new Government could do that would really make a difference:
1 Introduce carbon taxes
Back in 2000, the Government's first National Climate Change Strategy proposed carbon taxes to achieve cuts in Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. But then minister for finance Charlie McCreevy bowed to pressure from heavy-hitters in industry, whose views were endorsed by then minister for enterprise and employment Mary Harney, and the idea was dropped in 2004.
Since the Green Party became Fianna Fáil's coalition partner last year, carbon taxes are back on the agenda. The switch to taxing cars based on their CO2 emissions, rather than engine size, from July 1st is seen by Minister for the Environment John Gormley as a first step towards wider carbon taxes. Much will depend on what the Commission on Taxation recommends - and on political will.
2 Allow local authorities to raise their own revenue
There isn't much point in having a directly elected mayor for Dublin (and ultimately other city regions) with responsibility for housing, transport, waste management and other key areas, unless the local authorities are given revenue-raising powers. Until 1978, they could rely on domestic rates and, since these were abolished, they have been largely dependent on hand-outs from central government. If Ireland is to have democratic and accountable local government, the power to raise revenue locally must be restored. A property tax, based on the value of houses, would be the fairest. But this is such a hot political potato that all-party agreement would be needed. Other alternatives might include local income or sales taxes, introduced on the same "revenue-neutral" basis as carbon taxes.
3 Reconsider the public service "decentralisation" programme
Like suburban sprawl, the madcap scheme to disperse 10,300 public servants from Dublin to 53 locations throughout the State is a legacy of the Ahern era. Eight entire Government departments are all still slated to move to places as far apart as Portlaoise, Killarney, Cavan, Knock airport, Newbridge, Mullingar, Wexford and Drogheda. This is causing havoc throughout the Civil Service and in State agencies. The consequences in terms of loss of "corporate memory" would be even more severe, with up to 90 per cent of civil servants in some departments seeking redeployment in Dublin. At the very least, headquarters functions should be retained in the capital, otherwise the scheme will only cause further fragmentation in the Civil Service, as the OECD warned in its recently published review.
4 Kick-start the regeneration of Cork and Limerick docklands
Ambitious plans have been announced for the regeneration of redundant dockland areas in both Cork and Limerick. But there must be serious doubt that they will materialise given that neither city has anything like Dublin's critical mass of people and economy. Cork city isn't even going to get a batch of public servants under the decentralisation programme; some 930 are to be dispersed throughout Co Cork instead. Dublin's IFSC wouldn't have happened without the availability of lucrative tax incentives. A case could be made to justify a targeted scheme of incentives to kick-start regeneration in Cork and Limerick.
5 Cancel the Metro North project
Metro North is by far the most expensive infrastructure project ever proposed in Ireland - a 17km line, largely underground, running from Swords to St Stephen's Green with an estimated price-tag of €6 billion. Its main justification is that it would provide a link from Dublin airport to the city centre, though there are much more economical ways of serving the airport - for example, a spur off the Dart at Malahide. The Railway Procurement Agency should be instructed instead to concentrate on building a surface-running Luas light-rail network, including a critical link in the city centre between the Sandyford and Tallaght lines. At least 100km of Luas lines could be provided for the cost of Metro North.
6 Fast-track the rail interconnector
Rather than being hung up on the "big ticket" metro project, Ministers should recognise that the underground rail project for Dublin that really makes sense is the interconnector between Heuston Station and Spencer Dock. This €2 billion scheme would not only bypass a serious bottleneck at Connolly Station, but more importantly integrate all existing suburban rail services (including the Dart) into a real network.
The interconnector, now being branded by Iarnród Éireann as "Dart Underground", would have considerably less impact in both the short and long term on the valued public amenity of St Stephen's Green and would not disrupt the city centre as much as the construction of Metro North. Though it is in the Government's Transport 21 programme, the danger is that it could "fall off the table" if metro goes ahead.
7 Direct Dublin Port to relocate to Bremore
Even as John Gormley prepares to sign an order extending the Dublin Bay Special Protection Area for wild birds, the Dublin Port Company is still pursuing its controversial plan to infill a further 52 acres of the inner bay for port facilities. And Drogheda Port is planning an entirely new port at Bremore, in north Co Dublin, right next to the Dublin-Belfast railway line and within a mile or two of the M1 motorway.
Dublin Port occupies a prime 250-acre site that would form a natural extension of the Docklands area; it would be worth hundreds of millions of euro. The port company's position is untenable, but it will not move unless it is pushed by Government to form a joint venture with Drogheda Port at Bremore to cater for all freight. The port would continue to cater for passenger ferries and ocean liners.
8 Cancel new Abbey Theatre in Docklands
The Abbey Theatre has been seeking a new home for years in a variety of locations, the latest being George's Dock in the IFSC. Last October, it was announced that there would be an international competition to select a design for the new National Theatre - even though the site is not big enough to accommodate what the Abbey has in mind, and it would end up consuming much of the dock basin. Now that the long-running legal wrangle over the Carlton site in O'Connell Street has finally been resolved, there is an unrepeatable opportunity to relocate the Abbey to the city's main thoroughfare. At present, developers Chartered Land are planning a department store behind the retained Carlton facade, but the plans could be modified to accommodate the Abbey as a new "anchor" for O'Connell Street.
9 Reinstate the Freedom of Information Act
The 1997 Freedom of Information (FoI) Act was gutted and filleted by the government in 2003, doing enormous damage to the public's right to know. As Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly has noted repeatedly, the number of requests made under the Act has plummeted since then - aggravated by the imposition of quite substantial fees for seeking the now limited information available. The original FoI Act needs to be restored so that we are not kept continually in the dark about decisions. After all, even Ronald Reagan said he believed in "government in the sunshine".
10 Review M3 motorway route near Tara
The die is probably cast for the M3 motorway to cut a swathe through the setting of the Hill of Tara, despite all the protests and even the words of poet and Nobel laureate Séamus Heaney, warning that it would "desecrate" a sacred landscape. "If ever there was a place that deserved to be preserved in the name of the dead generations from pre-historic times . . . it was Tara," he said in March. One last effort should be made to resolve the issue, either by rerouting the motorway or upgrading the N3. Co Meath will soon be traversed by no less than four motorways - the M1, M2, M3 and M4. In a country as small as Ireland, with a relatively low population density, how can such profligacy be justified - especially when the coffers are no longer full?
Frank McDonald is Environment Editor