John Gormley

Some footage of the confrontation between John Gormley and Michael McDowell in Ranelagh has been posted to YouTube:

This is a time of real nerves. Our tallies and indeed those of the Labour Party show Lucinda Creighton and Ruairi Quinn taking the first two seats. Yet the spin out there is that Ruairi’s in trouble. He’s not. If anything he’s cleaning up at my expense. Yesterday’s canvass confirmed that. It’s not helped by the fact that the pundits, who get their information from party spin merchants, make pronouncements on TV and radio, which voters believe. Their predictions affect voter behaviour.

Let’s get it straight: all the evidence shows right now that FG and Labour will take the first two seats. After that, it’s a battle between FF, PD and Green for the last two seats. More than likely the last seat is between Michael McDowell and myself – something that would not have seemed credible 3 weeks ago. What a strange business.

By the way, I don’t get any hint at all of this massive surge to FF. If anything, there is a huge anti-government swing. I genuinely hope we can get an alternative government when the votes are counted.

The Green Party’s party political broadcast will be shown this evening after the 9pm News on RTÉ One, and before the debate between the leaders of FG and FF begins. It was written by Nick Kelly, one of Ireland’s leading advertising copywriters, and carries a message that sums up what we’re about. We’re proud of it.

The broadcast has also been posted to YouTube, and in less than 48 hours it already has over 3,500 views. The video has won widespread praise, with Mark Hennessy of the Irish Times describing it as “simply stunning“. You can view it below:

If you like the message of the video, please forward it to as many friends as possible. The direct link is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvtUeSjzYL0

John Gormley’s “Planet Bertie” speech from this year’s Green Party convention is also available on YouTube:

The direct link for this speech is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkoz7hmc1s

John Gormley appeared this morning on an RTÉ One Election Special at the end of the first week of election campaigning, featuring reaction to the Progressive Democrats’ call for the Taoiseach to make a public statement on his finances. View the programme online here - John’s appearance starts about 30 minutes into the running time.

Green Party Chairman and Director of Elections John Gormley TD has said the threat that the Progressive Democrats may pull out of Government over additional information on Bertie Ahern’s finances, effectively means the party are ‘dead in the water’.

Deputy Gormley said: “If the PDs pull the plug, who exactly are they going to go into Government with? Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the Green Party won’t touch those opportunists with a barge pole.

“The only new information that Progressive Democrats’ Leader Michael McDowell if getting about the Taoiseach’s personal finances is from people on the doorsteps who are expressing a lack of confidence in his leadership and in the PDs in particular.

”Only a number of days ago he stated that he was happy with Ahern’s leadership, and that the Taoiseach had fully briefed him last Autumn. Now that the public and PD voters in particular have expressed concern on the doorsteps about Mr Ahern’s peculiar financial arrangements, Michael McDowell is back to his old trick of pretending to hold the Taoiseach to account.”

The Green Party today published an alcohol position paper, aimed at tackling alcohol related harm in our society. Green Party Chairman and Health spokesperson John Gormley TD said it was necessary to change the way alcohol is marketed and sold in Ireland to address the ongoing problems of alcohol addiction and binge-drinking.

Deputy Gormley said: “Bank Holiday weekends tend to be a time of over-indulgence in alcohol. We are not saying that people should stay away from the pub but we do need to address the ongoing problems that alcohol related harm has on our society. Since 2004, most of the recommendations of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol have been languishing in the Government’s filing cabinets. They have shelved the Alcohol Products Bill and withdrawn from the Groceries Order, which allows off-licences to sell alcohol at below cost. Read the rest of this entry »

Statement by Green Party Chairman John Gormley TD

“Michael McDowell’s comments earlier today on Bertie Ahern’s financial affairs provide yet another example of the PD leader’s penchant for political posturing. Only a number of days ago he stated that he was happy with Ahern’s leadership, and that the Taoiseach had fully briefed him last Autumn.

“Many people will recall McDowell’s vacillations during that period. People will also recall that the PD Leader only supported the Taoiseach when it became clear there was a certain amount of public sympathy for him.

“Now that the public and PD voters in particular have expressed concern on the doorsteps about Mr Ahern’s peculiar financial arrangements, Michael McDowell is back to his old trick of pretending to hold the Taoiseach to account.

“For the last five years the PD ‘enforcer’ has acted like the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, standing by his man. The threat of a last-minute divorce won’t fool anyone,” concluded Deputy Gormley.

– Gormley accuses cowardly PD Leader of avoiding him and challenges him to debate

The Green Party has called on Michael McDowell to stop his smear campaign against the Green Party and answer questions about his knowledge of Bertie Ahern’s financial arrangements. Green Party Chairman John Gormley TD challenged the PD Leader to a debate on these issues. He claimed McDowell had avoided appearances on any TV or radio station with him over the last five years.

Deputy Gormley said: “Since the beginning of this election campaign, Michael McDowell has engaged in a smear campaign against the Green Party. He has issued leaflets in my constituency which have no basis in fact and he has refused totally to engage in any debate with me when challenged to do so. If he is so sure of his ground, then he should be prepared to defend his outrageous claims.

“Instead of engaging in smear tactics and negative campaigning, McDowell ought to clarify exactly what he knew about the Taoiseach’s very strange financial arrangements. In particular he should answer the following questions:

• Did he know about the €30,000 that Michael Wall gave to the Taoiseach’s former partner, Celia Larkin?
• Was he given to understand that Ms. Larkin was operating a bank account for the Taoiseach?
• When the Taoiseach failed to disclose this last autumn, why did McDowell also choose to stay silent on this important piece of information?

“Above all else, there is one central question that he needs to respond to – why has he not kept an eye on Fianna Fáil, as he promised to do when he climbed up the infamous lamppost with the ‘One party government – no thanks’ poster in 2002? People are genuinely disappointed in his performance and the fact that he has reneged on this commitment to maintain high standards in government. McDowell has been taking pot-shots at the Greens and then running away. It’s time he stood his ground and stopped acting the coward.”

- Green Party would impose poster limits for future elections

Green Party Chairman and Director of Elections, John Gormley TD said today that the election poster campaign has got out of hand and needed to be properly regulated in the future. He promised that if the Green Party entered government they would introduce European style limits on political advertising.

Deputy Gormley said: “The amount of posters used during an election has got completely out of hand. In my own constituency of Dublin South East there is scarcely a pole left such was the onslaught yesterday morning and afternoon. There are an unprecedented number of posters, mostly, it has to be said, from Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the PDs – the parties who receive most from big business.

“Of course the smaller parties are then forced to compete with this, thus increasing the number of posters they use, leading to a type of postering madness that we are now witnessing. If the Green Party becomes part of the next Government we will ensure that the following measures are introduced:

1. A limit of 150 posters per candidate to be erected at official City Council sites, which are now used to advertise official events (these brackets on lampposts can be seen already in certain city centre locations). This is a practice in other European cities and would bring a degree of civility to election campaigns. The current free-for-all is unsustainable to say the least.
2. In relation to election literature, each party should have the opportunity to print a synopsis of their policies in one official booklet which would be sent to each household. This would, again, help to stop the proliferation of election leaflets going through people’s doors. Most of this election literature ends up in the Green bin in any case.
3. There must be much stricter election spending limits, not just at election time but between elections. It is very noticeable that the government Parties sent out very expensive newspapers over the weekend in the full knowledge that the election was just about to be called and that the spending limits would be imposed.

“Not only will the above measures even the electoral playing field – they would also spare the voter the onslaught of posters and leaflets and be far better for the environment,” Mr. Gormley concluded.

– Govt has abandoned 2001 health strategy, says Gormley

The Green Party today outlined its vision on reforming the health service, and promised to deliver 2,000 extra acute beds in its first five years in government, in a bid to end the ‘national emergency’ in Ireland’s A&E units. Speaking at the launch of Party’s policy document on hospitals and funding this morning, Health spokesperson John Gormley TD said that the Green Party would also stop Mary Harney’s ‘co-location’ plans to build private hospitals on public land.

Deputy Gormley said: “There are very few people on the front lines of medicine who advocate co-location. Indeed many respected health experts have described the idea as ‘cloud cuckoo land’. If we want to improve our public health service then we must invest in public beds, not private, for-profit hospitals, which will undoubtedly cherry-pick the least-complicated and most profitable procedures, leaving the most difficult tasks to public hospitals. This move will also result in higher premiums for the privately insured. If insurance costs continue to rise, then more people will be forced back into a seriously depleted public system. The Green Party is making it very clear today that we will scrap these plans. It would appear from some reports that there is also little enthusiasm in some quarters of the HSE for this hair-brained scheme.

“Many of the problems of our health service can be traced back to a lack of acute public beds, intensive care unit beds and step-down staff. The Green Party is committed to implementing the 2001 health strategy, which the FF-PD Government has totally abandoned. We will invest in 400 acute beds per annum, over a seven year period. We will do the same in relation to step-down beds. This target allows for the improvement of bed capacity on a phased and planned basis, taking into account fluctuations in population. The main point in relation to bed capacity is that there has been a 25 per cent reduction in beds since the 1980s, in startling contrast to the 25 per cent increase in population.

“The Green Party has already published a comprehensive document on primary healthcare. In our first term in office we would like to introduce free primary healthcare for the under sixes. It is our aim to phase in free access to primary healthcare for all citizens over a ten year period.

“About 53 per cent of our population has private health insurance and the Green Party believes that community rating and risk equalisation are the fairest ways to ensure equality of treatment for those taking out insurance. It is clear, however, that increasing numbers of people are turning to health insurance because they lack confidence in our public health system. If we are to begin to tackle the two-tiered health system we must start investing in crucial elements of the public health service. It should be noted that A&E units do not distinguish between public and private and that, similarly, over 73 per cent of people in our public hospitals, whether they be private or insured, come through A&E.

“We are committed to providing an extra consultants for the public health service. But it is clear that money is not the only impediment to achieving a satisfactory resolution to the ongoing dispute with consultants. Many consultants who are committed to delivering a top-class public health service have stated that the contract, as advertised, lacks sufficient administration time. These issues cannot be ignored, and indeed, should have been resolved years ago.”

“We also believe that greater efficiencies can be introduced into the system in relation to types of payment and that the HSE must become more accountable,” concluded Deputy Gormley.