Commentary on recent news

Phone hacking

Lately the news has been filled with atrocious stories about phone hacking of crime victims. The journalists and investigators involved took their work to a new low level of depravity. A free press is good for our nation and for holding government and corporates to account but in this case News International proves the media also need to be held to account.

Prime Minister David Cameron has evaded the hard questions for now but it is yet another lesson for politicians to choose their friends and employees wisely.

Badgers

On a more environmental note, it was reported that badgers may be culled in Northern Ireland. It is thought they threaten cattle with bovine TB. However in Wales this has been postponed pending a scientific study.

We believe badgers should be protected and other means sought to protect livestock. Vaccination, testing, improved bio-security and controls on the movement of cattle are better ways of reducing the cases of bovine TB in cattle.

How would a badger cull affect the balance of our local ecosystem?

Plastic bags

A plastic bag tax is being proposed for Northern Ireland. Alex Attwood, Environment Minister, has put this out for consultation to find out how much consumers should pay.

Dr John Barry, lecturer at Queen's University and Green Party spokesman has stated, "Introducing this tax is only following suit after its success in the Republic in terms of reducing plastic bad useage and spending the money raised on environment issues."

We are in favour of this tax. It works for M&S and Lidl and we would encourage you to email your comments to Alex Attwood via a.attwood@sdlp.ie

As always we would love to hear from you. Add your comments below or tweet us @lvgreens.

Growing Greens in Lagan Valley

Following on from the recent electoral success of the Green Party leader, Steven Agnew MLA in North Down, the local Greens in Lagan Valley are showing signs of growth.

At their AGM meeting held in Bridge Community Centre, Lisburn, on Tuesday 28 June, new members were introduced and a vote taken to transform the local group into a more effective constituency group for Lagan Valley. Positions were also appointed for Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Communications Officer.

Conor Quinn, who has been re-elected Chair said: "As a result of our increasing membership the Lagan Valley Greens have recently reconstituted as a full constituency group within the party”.

“We were delighted with the response on the doorsteps during the recent elections. It is clear there is an appetite for new, progressive politics in Lagan Valley”.

Local environmental issues were also discussed at the AGM, including the proposed development of John Lewis with 20 smaller retail units at Sprucefield, the proposed waste energy plants at Glenavy and Moira Road, the wind turbine at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club, and the allotments at Killeaton Playing Fields.

Lagan Valley Greens’ members come from different backgrounds, careers and age groups. Prospective members don’t need to be ecologists or environmental perfectionists to join. All that is needed is an interest in improving life for people and the planet.

As the Green Party believes in clean politics, it only accepts donations from individuals and never from corporates. This sets it apart from all other mainstream political parties and prevents influence from companies wishing to promote their own commercial interests.

The Lagan Valley constituency covers a wide area encompassing the City of Lisburn, Hillsborough, Dromore, Moira and parts of Dunmurry. To find out more about the Lagan Valley Greens visit www.LaganValleyGreens.com or call 07717 717755.

Lagan Valley Greens AGM

The 2011 AGM of the Lagan Valley Green Party will be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 28th June in the Hamilton Room, Bridge Community Centre Lisburn.

The big question which will before us is to consider is whether we wish to upgrade to full Constituency Group status from Local Group status. We now have 13 paid up members (minimum for Constituency Group is 10). We do however need to fill the Secretary position to comply with Rules and Procedures.

All officer positions are open for election at this AGM. Conor Quinn will be standing for Chair/Convenor and Ciara Daly will be putting herself forward for Treasurer. Members can put themselves forward for ANY of the officer positions but members interested in the Secretary position are particularly welcome.

Members in probation (first 6 months) may stand for officer positions but may not vote in the election or any other motion. 2010 members can renew at the AGM and retain full voting rights.

I encourage all members to consider setting up a standing order as we build again for the next elections. You can find the standing order form here.

Assassination of Osama bin Laden

Seven reasons the assassination of Osama bin Laden might prove to be a mistake:

• The Green Party believes the death penalty is wrong.
• Bin Laden should have been captured and brought to trial under international law.
• If questioned, he might have been a source of valuable information.
• Most of Al Qaeda's operations will continue as they would have done anyway. The organisation has always operated with regional leaders and a highly distributed network.
• Bin Laden himself was no longer a threat to world security.
• The assassination may well inflame tensions within the Arab world and beyond. Bin Laden may become a martyr in the minds of many people in the Islamic world.
• In the long run, it may well end up making the problem of organised terrorism carried out in the name of Islam worse, not better. The chances of reprisal attacks has to be high.

Green Party will Protect Public Services

Green Party Lagan Valley candidate Conor Quinn;
Green Party NI Leader Steven Agnew;
Green Party Lisburn City Council candidate Luke Robinson.

The Green Party has emphasised that the protection of local, public services is a key element of its Assembly Manifesto. Speaking at the party’s manifesto launch Lagan Valley Green Party Candidate, Conor Quinn, stated that health and education would be protected under the Green Party’s plans. “The Assembly has limited revenue raising powers so this election campaign is about the tough choices that must be made in the context of the current budgetary cuts,” explained Mr Quinn. “The Green Party will protect the health budget and ensure that there is no rise in university fees. We have taken a critical look at the allocation for new roads projects and believe £600m can be released over the next four years, while still protecting the roads maintenance budget. The additional resources will also be used to fund a Northern Ireland insulation scheme under our green jobs programme.”

Mr Quinn also outlined what he believes makes the Green Party different from other political parties: “Green politics is clean politics. We are the only party that does not take donations from companies and we publish all our personal donors on our website. Stormont is not working, but a Green MLA in the Assembly will work for reform, honest politics and transparency. Only the Green Party has a vision for a fairer and sustainable Northern Ireland,” he concluded.

Conor Quinn Discusses Green Party Manifesto

Conor Quinn talks to Alan from the famous Alan in Belfast blogsite.


Conor Quinn, Green Party #ae11 #le11 #lagv11 from Alan in Belfast on Vimeo.

The full blog article can be found on Slugger O'Toole.

Further coverage of the manifesto launch can be found on the BBC, UTV, and the Belfast Telegraph websites.

Green Party NI Launches Manifesto: Economy for People and Planet

The Green Party in Northern Ireland today launched its manifesto ahead of next month’s Assembly and Council elections.

The party is fielding 22 candidates in total, including six Assembly candidates, in North Down, South Down, East Belfast, South Belfast, Lagan Valley and East Antrim.

The key message in the campaign is ‘Economy for People and Planet’ which encompasses the party’s desire to champion policies which are benchmarked against those three key areas.

Green Party Leader and North Down Assembly candidate Steven Agnew said: “Resources are stretched and we have to prioritise spending on areas that meet a number of policy objectives.

“There is no sense in squandering money on projects that may be good economically but environmentally damaging or pushing environmental policies that are not good for people. The Green Party benchmarks all its policies on whether they are good for the economy, good for people and good for the environment.

“In the last Assembly with one MLA the Green Party was able to get cross-party support for the ambitious Green New Deal programme.  If fully implemented the Green New Deal will provide thousands of jobs while helping to tackle fuel poverty and combat climate change.

“It is essential that there is a Green Party presence in the next Assembly to ensure the vision of the Green New Deal is realised.

“The Green Party did not support the cuts budget as it will see our public sector decimated and result in massive job losses across the public sector.

“We will continue to defend vital public services and oppose plans to increase fees for students that would see our young people burdened with crippling debt – an unacceptable price for university education which benefits our whole society.

“In this manifesto we outline how we can minimise the impact of the cuts and target investment to drive job creation in Northern Ireland.”

In the manifesto, the Green Party in Northern Ireland is focusing on the grass-roots issues that are currently dominating the political agenda, outlining strategies for the economy, health, education, transport, food and agriculture and political reform as well as environmental concerns.

“The Green Party enters these elections in better shape than ever having matured and developed with experience in the Assembly.  Our European election result showed our vote had trebled in the space of five years.  In these elections we are looking to translate that growth of support into seats in the Assembly and in local councils,” continued Mr Agnew.

“We have young candidates that can bring a breath of fresh air to Northern Ireland politics and the experience and expertise of Green Parties across the globe to draw upon.

“While others dwell in the past, it is the Green Party that has the vision for a brighter future for everyone in Northern Ireland.”