Sustainable Communities Bill 2004

6th July 2004

A Green Party bill to require the drawing up and implementation of a strategy to promote sustainability amoung local communities.

In 1987, the then Norwegian Prime Minister, Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland, said that sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Her definition has become a mantra among environmentalists and others, who remember it as others would remember the catechism they learnt by rote. I think sustainability is about giving the next generation the choices we have. It is about simple things, such as being able to take a bus to work or walking to the shops, the pub or the church. I am not convinced that the decisions emanating from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and other Departments will allow future generations to have such choices. We have seen an attempt to greenwash Government policies in the past 15 years.

Ever since the so-called green European Presidency of the then Taoiseach, Charlie Haughey, in 1990, successive Ministers, particularly Fianna Fáil Ministers, have attempted to portray themselves as being green. However, our increase in climate change emissions is the highest among the European Union countries. That highlights for me the lie behind attempts to cover the Government’s policies in green because underneath it there has not been much of a change of heart.

Future choices are being compromised by decisions that are made by Government. For example, if we spend four fifths of our transport funding on motorways, it is unlikely we will have decent public transport. If we build incinerators throughout the country, it is unlikely that Irish agriculture will find a good niche market in the promotion of organic produce. If people in local government are not empowered to make decisions, it is unlikely they will be able to take brave and wise decisions. Increasingly, local government is being stifled by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

What would making Ireland more sustainable mean? What would the themes that run through this Bill mean in practice? There would be a few simple changes. We would abolish the fee to make an observation on a planning application. It might also ensure that, for instance, new taxis would be accessible to those with disabilities, again a decision of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It might allow our children to be able to cycle safely to school without parents being scared stiff about what might happen to them. It might mean that new communities will have schools, health clinics and parks from day one instead of waiting on them for many years. It might mean that the next Luas line might be in place in three years instead of the 13 years since Fianna Fáil promised a new light rail system for Dublin in the 1991 local elections. It is not a hugely complicated issue. Sustainability is about giving us choices to change our environment.

We are not looking for the sun, moon and stars in this Bill. Green parties worldwide have always said they are looking for the earth. In essence, we are trying to ensure that people have those choices in the years to come. It is also about a balance in terms of the three pillars identified in Lisbon — social, economic and environmental — but I do not believe that balance is being achieved. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has, to an incredible degree, pushed forward the needs of business to the exclusion of environmental issues and real action on climate change. That is the reason we are trying to put the onus on the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, through this Bill, to show us clear scientific targets and indicators because if we use the science of environmentalism to examine the way policies are being used, it will show that we must make fairly radical changes in the way we go about our lives and the way various Departments go about their business.