John Gormley

The new year got off to a difficult start for Fine Gael. The comments of John Deasy and Damien English regarding the leadership of Enda Kenny may have been misinterpreted initially, but both of them, it has to be said, broke the golden rule of politics: never answer a hypothetical question. What on earth could their motivation have been? Perhaps, they believe that FG won’t be back in government and they’re positioning themselves for the aftermath.

I must admit I have a great deal of sympathy for Enda Kenny. Enda’s a good guy. When he was a backbencher he used to sit behind Trevor and myself, and there was always plenty of banter and jokes. You don’t often see that aspect of his personality nowadays, although given what has happened he probably needs his sense of humour more than ever.

It’s a pity too that Trevor’s comments in relation to Enda’s Irish Times interview were perceived as a total rebuff. I know Trevor likes and respects Enda. Trevor was simply reiterating the party position of campaigning as an independent party.

It’s actually a healthy development that FG would prefer the Greens to the PDs.

The next few weeks will be busy ones for the party. We have a number of policy launches planned and after that the party convention. Things are going well and the response from the public is positive and encouraging.

Dublin City Council now have a very useful facility where you can check the current electoral register online. Just enter your name and address and it will tell you whether you’re registered and display your details.

If you’re not registered, or if your details are incorrect, you can download the necessary forms to amend the register from this link: Register of Electors.

Click here to search the current register: eReg: Register of Electors Online Enquiries

Well done to all who organised the Blogging the Election conference on Saturday. I was unable to attend because of a couple of other commitments. I did manage to catch the proceedings on the web and in this morning’s Irish Times (subscription required) – and it looked interesting. The fact that I could not attend highlights the real difficulty for politicians when it comes to blogging - time poverty. It just isn’t easy to grab a few moments in the day to compose your thoughts. Another problem is that much of what is really interesting in Leinster House ie the gossip, the rumours etc are simply unprintable. A TD could write a very entertaining blog if were done anonymously.

Ciarán Cuffe did a good piece in the Times on Saturday, but he probably overstates the effectiveness of blogging as a communications tool. Browsing the web is still a relatively exclusive pursuit. In my experience, many voters still use the Internet for e-mail and that’s about it. All of that may change, especially as if broadband speeds increase and there’s more broadband penetration. The less high-tech approach of knocking on doors, looking the voter in the eye, communicating your message, is still the most effective.

It looks like the PDs and FF will patch things up. Michael Mc, I’m afraid, has cried wolf too many times now. He’ll probably try to salvage a shred of credibility by getting some form of new ethics legislation passed. You can see my thoughts on this in the press release I did this morning.

Technorati tag: irishblogcon

Statement by John Gormley TD, Green Party Chairman

The Green Party congratulates Michael McDowell on his elevation to the position of PD leader. It’s clear that Mr McDowell will move the party in a more right wing, neo-conservative direction, and that any pretense of the PDs being a liberal party has now vanished.

There can be no doubt that the PDs will always put corporate profit above the quality of life of individuals and their communities. We look forward to robust exchanges across the floor of the Dail on the future direction of this country. At the very least, Mr McDowell brings clarity to that important debate.

Green Party Chairman John Gormley has predicted that the next general election will be fought on green issues. The TD for Dublin South East who heads the Green Party’s Electoral Task Force said that in previous elections the economy was the dominant issue, but this is no longer the case. “The feedback our candidates are getting from voters indicates that Election 2007 will be a test of each party’s green credentials,” he said. (more…)

I spent the first part of the morning filling out a visa form and having photos taken for the application. This is for the forthcoming UN conference on AIDS. We had leader’s questions this morning. We focussed on spiralling housing prices and the increased indebtedness of many young people as a result.

I had to leave directly following that to attend the Dublin/Monaghan bombings commemoration in Talbot St, which unfortunately I just got the end of. Only a small number had gathered in the rain. Patricia (McKenna) was also there.

The TDs had a long meeting with the party treasurer, Martin Nolan, to discuss election finances.

I managed to get the adjournment debate last night, on the Housing (miscellaneous provisions) bill.

I also received an interesting reply to a PQ regarding the use of the E112. It seems that public patients may well benefit from the ECJ ruling but that private patients may have to receive treatment in this country. It’s something I intend to pursue.

540. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the opinion of the European Parliament Petitions Committee on petition number 517/2004 regarding obstacles for non-Irish EU citizens attempting to register to vote in the European elections here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17939/06]
   Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Roche): I assume that the Question refers to an EU petition which my Department has received  relating to potential costs associated with completion of a statutory declaration in respect of the first time registration of EU citizens who wish to vote in European Parliament elections in Ireland.  I intend to address the matter in the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006, on which work is proceeding, by widening the categories of person who may witness the relevant statutory declaration.  The European Commission was notified of this on 21 December 2005.

Fianna Fáil has done a survey telling us that the electoral register is inaccurate. It’s front page news. The opposition has been saying this for months but we’ve seen little response from the person in charge, Dick Roche. They should have used the census as an opportunity to clear up the mess. It has always amazed me how FF can speak out of both sides of their mouth, and apparently get away with it. We have seen other examples in DSE. They’re all opposed to the incinerator, yet they introduce legislation which permits the building of one.

Cycling to the Dail this morning, I notice that Lucinda Creighton has posters up around Grand Canal Street advertising a a local meeting. Richard Bruton is speaking. I thought this sort of postering in the Dublin City Council area was illegal. I’m also fairly sure that Fine Gael supported the introduction of the poster ban. The Greens and smaller parties felt such a ban would stop anti-war groups and the like from publicising demonstrations etc. Now that FG have decided to ignore the ban I hope they will reconsider their earlier position on this.

I’m speaking in Dundalk tonight at a fundraising dinner for Councillor Mark Dearey. Mark’s an excellent candidate. Local polls are showing him doing quite well. He’s well organised, has a good team behind him and is a good media performer. Definitely one to watch.

Given that we’re now about 12 months from the General Election I thought it would be an appropriate time to start a blog. I don’t have a huge amount of time so the entries will be fairly sporadic.

I attended Terenure Residents Association last night - the only TD from Dublin South East to do so. Gay Mitchell and Michael Mulcahy were there from Dublin South Central plus a good representation of councillors and approximately 40 residents - Michael Mulcahy had done a head count. While the Gardaí gave a report about local crime, Michael - with whom I often discuss elections - bet me that Michael McDowell would top the poll in Dublin South East with a surplus of 2,000 votes! I took the bet immediately, which is for a magnum of champagne, if you don’t mind.

The problems raised by residents include litter, traffic, the proposed skateboard park - a discussion which became very heated - and the development plan for Terenure village.

I missed Eamon (Ryan) on Prime Time but saw it on the Net this morning. He was debating with Dr Ed Walsh about the question of nuclear power. Ed Walsh came across as pompous and arrogant. At the end he even asked Eamon was he ’scientifically literate’! Eamon won hands down. The point is, of course, that the Green Party arguments opposing nuclear power in Ireland are based totally on scientific findings.

Bertie says publicly that he’s opposed to nuclear power, but his speech to the Engineers Ireland conference yesterday was equivocal. He’s clearly under pressure from certain quarters to leave the door open for nuclear power.

1075. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department has examined the possibility of reforming the electoral system so that Irish citizens living abroad will be able to vote in referendums and general elections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10235/05] (more…)