John Gormley

John Gormley TD gave his Cathaoirleach’s address to the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas National Convention in Galway on Saturday 24th February 2006.

Listen to an audio recording of the speech.

The full text of the speech is available below. (more…)

Statement by John Gormley TD Green Party Chairman and defence spokesperson.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence have still not clarified Ireland’s position in relation to the deployment of Irish troops into Lebanon. In particular, they have made no statement about to the rules of engagement for an international force operating in Southern Lebanon. While Ireland will be attending today’s UN conference on this issue, we have as yet had no clarity from either minister despite repeated calls from this party. (more…)

John Gormley TD gave his Cathaoirleach’s address to the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas National Convention in Kilkenny on Saturday 25th March 2006. The speech was titled The Experience to Do Things Better.

Listen to an audio recording of the speech.

Green Party Chairman, John Gormley, T.D. has called on the Minister for State, Tom Parlon, and Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, to immediately clarify the position regarding mobile phone antennae on the Office of Public Works building beside St. Louis and St. Mary’s Schools in Rathmines.

Mr Gormley said that both the Ministers had led local people to believe through parliamentary replies and correspondence that the masts situated beside St Louis and St Mary’s Schools were to be deactivated. According to Mr. Gormley, the mobile phone operator Hutchinson has now indicated that it has no intention whatsoever of de-activating the mast and has sent correspondence to this effect to Minister Parlon.

“Why have Minister Parlon and Minister McDowell engaged in complete spin on this issue? They have issued misleading statements and have given people to believe that the masts on the OPW building would be switched off. It is now clear from information that we have received that the masts are still operational and that Hutchinson, the company involved, has no intention of de-activating these masts.”

“Parents of local school children are rightly concerned about this issue and have put their trust in Minister McDowell. He has let them down badly. Surely Minister McDowell knows that the location of these masts is in contravention of the Government’s own guidelines. Such masts should not be located on schools or beside schools.”

Listen to John’s podcast on this issue

The Green Party will be stepping up its anti-incineration campaign in the next few weeks. Speaking today Green Party Chairman and TD for Dublin South East John Gormley said that, “Many residents have been given the impression by Michael McDowell TD that the incinerator would not go ahead. In an interview last summer he said that the incinerator ‘would not be built in its present form’. The Progressive Democrats also promised at the last election that they ‘would ensure no mass burn incineration’. The PDs have now broken that election promise.

“The Fianna Fáil/PD Government have now given the go-ahead to Dublin City Council to enter into a public-private partnership with Elsam Ireland Ltd. to design, build, operate and finance a mass burn incinerator at Poolbeg. Dublin City Council is holding an information day in Ringsend Technical Institute on the subject of “Community Gain”.

“It is clear that the community will not gain from this incinerator, and the Combined Residents Against Incineration (CRAI) are holding a protest at the gates of Ringsend Technical Institute. The Green Party will be present to support this protest, and we urge all residents to come out and show their strong opposition to the incinerator.

“A change in Government policy is our best hope of halting this incinerator, so political pressure must be maintained. The planning process is skewed in favour of incineration, as we have seen in Ringaskiddy, where An Bord Pleanála overturned the recommendation of its own inspector because the building of incinerators is ‘government policy’.

“The fact that the EPA has granted licences to incinerators in Meath and Cork shows that they will more than likely approve a licence for possibly the biggest incinerator in Europe in Ringsend,” concluded Deputy Gormley.

Listen to John Gormley’s podcast on this issue.