{"id":106,"date":"2008-07-14T09:39:30","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T08:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/?p=106"},"modified":"2008-07-14T09:39:30","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T08:39:30","slug":"the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Editor, The Irish Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Madam, – Eamon Ryan is clearly one of the more thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate members of this Fianna F\u00e1il\/Green coalition government. (Let’s forget the nonsense that the PDs still exist in anything other than Government’s political philosophy.)<\/p>\n

However his comment in the D\u00e1il last Thursday that “we revelled in it” – in reference to the Celtic Tiger years – cannot go unchallenged and seems to indicate a radical shift to the right by the Green Party that is as unwelcome as, to me, it is unexpected.<\/p>\n

We did not all revel in it. Some of us did shout “stop”. The thousands of families still on housing waiting lists were not those who built and bought bigger houses for extraordinary sums. The young children who sit begging on Grafton Street were not from families who flew to Madison Avenue to buy their “cheap” Gucci bags. The people sitting in traffic jams are not the cause, but the effect, of crazy decisions made by those who held Ministerial Office when we had the resources to tackle these problems.<\/p>\n

Many people gave the Greens a first or high preference at the last election because we believed the party provided some radical balance in Irish public life. However, their craven acceptance of the establishment view of who should pay for the problems funked in the past 12 wasted years is a clear marker to those of us who believe in a fair society to be wary of ever doing so again. – Yours, etc,<\/p>\n

Cllr DERMOT LACEY, Beech Hill Drive, Dublin 4.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Editor, The Irish Times Madam, – Eamon Ryan is clearly one of the more thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate members of this Fianna F\u00e1il\/Green coalition government. (Let’s forget the nonsense that the PDs still exist in anything other than Government’s political philosophy.) However his comment in the D\u00e1il last Thursday that “we revelled in it” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lettersed"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Editor, The Irish Times Madam, – Eamon Ryan is clearly one of the more thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate members of this Fianna F\u00e1il\/Green coalition government. (Let’s forget the nonsense that the PDs still exist in anything other than Government’s political philosophy.) However his comment in the D\u00e1il last Thursday that “we revelled in it” […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Councillor Dermot Lacey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100064479804399\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LaceyDermot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c64cc588c5df31b1138bc99a10ce014c\"},\"headline\":\"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor)\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\"},\"wordCount\":274,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Letters to the Editor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\",\"name\":\"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Councillor Dermot Lacey\",\"description\":\"Representing Pembroke Ward on Dublin City Council\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce\",\"name\":\"Dermot\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dublin-Bay-South-Pembroke.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dublin-Bay-South-Pembroke.png\",\"width\":493,\"height\":227,\"caption\":\"Dermot\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Why I got involved in politics I came from a very political family, committed to community activity and political involvement was a natural evolution of that. My priorities Community support, housing delivery, local government reform and supporting the voluntary youth sector. My background Growing up in Donnybrook, where I still live, I was always in involved in community life particularly through my membership of Donnybrook Scout Group. I was co-opted to Dublin City Council in 1993 to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Ruairi Quinn as Minister for Enterprise and Employment. Since then I have been re-elected at each local elections in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 in varying parts of Dublin Bay South as the electoral areas changed. On the Council I have served as Chairperson of the Employment Committee, Finance Committee, Arts and Sports Committee, Housing Committee, Protocol Committee and the Council itself as Lord Mayor of Dublin. I have also served as Chairperson of the South East Area Committee. I was elected Leader of the Labour Group in 2011. I have served as Cathaoirleach of the Dublin Regional Authority, the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly and the Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly. The only person to chair all three. I pioneered the 20% Social and Affordable Housing concept though the Dublin Docklands Development MasterPlan and have established a housing co-op in my own area and am a Board member of an Approved Housing Body. I was for ten years Chairperson of the South Dublin\/Wicklow Branch of the Irish Foster Care Association. Clubs and Committees Currently on Dublin City Council I Chair the South East Area Committee and the Housing Strategic Policy Committee. I am Board member of Donnybrook Community Employment and Sandymount Community Services, Donnybrook Community Playschool and numerous other local, community and Dublin wide organisations. I am member of the Board of Scouting Ireland, the City of Dublin Education and Training Board and the Royal Hospital Donnybrook Board. I have published \u201cA Fair City -one Dublin, many Dubliners\u201d a road map for better Local Government in Dublin and \u201cAll the Red Ties\u201d a history of Donnybrook Scout Group.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100064479804399\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/LaceyDermot\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dermot_Lacey\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c64cc588c5df31b1138bc99a10ce014c\",\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc5245e4711c8fb4daaaca8a812b0e5cacae4aca305bc61fbfac358c8d07fc3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc5245e4711c8fb4daaaca8a812b0e5cacae4aca305bc61fbfac358c8d07fc3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Webmaster\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/author\/keith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey","og_description":"The Editor, The Irish Times Madam, – Eamon Ryan is clearly one of the more thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate members of this Fianna F\u00e1il\/Green coalition government. (Let’s forget the nonsense that the PDs still exist in anything other than Government’s political philosophy.) However his comment in the D\u00e1il last Thursday that “we revelled in it” […]","og_url":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/","og_site_name":"Councillor Dermot Lacey","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100064479804399","article_published_time":"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00","author":"Webmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@LaceyDermot","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webmaster","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/"},"author":{"name":"Webmaster","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c64cc588c5df31b1138bc99a10ce014c"},"headline":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor)","datePublished":"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/"},"wordCount":274,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce"},"articleSection":["Letters to the Editor"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/","url":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/","name":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor) - Councillor Dermot Lacey","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-07-14T08:39:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2008\/07\/the-greens-in-government-letter-to-the-editor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Greens in Government (Letter to the Editor)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/","name":"Councillor Dermot Lacey","description":"Representing Pembroke Ward on Dublin City Council","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88143b54da5f5fd72bac76fe6d8272ce","name":"Dermot","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dublin-Bay-South-Pembroke.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dublin-Bay-South-Pembroke.png","width":493,"height":227,"caption":"Dermot"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Why I got involved in politics I came from a very political family, committed to community activity and political involvement was a natural evolution of that. My priorities Community support, housing delivery, local government reform and supporting the voluntary youth sector. My background Growing up in Donnybrook, where I still live, I was always in involved in community life particularly through my membership of Donnybrook Scout Group. I was co-opted to Dublin City Council in 1993 to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Ruairi Quinn as Minister for Enterprise and Employment. Since then I have been re-elected at each local elections in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 in varying parts of Dublin Bay South as the electoral areas changed. On the Council I have served as Chairperson of the Employment Committee, Finance Committee, Arts and Sports Committee, Housing Committee, Protocol Committee and the Council itself as Lord Mayor of Dublin. I have also served as Chairperson of the South East Area Committee. I was elected Leader of the Labour Group in 2011. I have served as Cathaoirleach of the Dublin Regional Authority, the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly and the Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly. The only person to chair all three. I pioneered the 20% Social and Affordable Housing concept though the Dublin Docklands Development MasterPlan and have established a housing co-op in my own area and am a Board member of an Approved Housing Body. I was for ten years Chairperson of the South Dublin\/Wicklow Branch of the Irish Foster Care Association. Clubs and Committees Currently on Dublin City Council I Chair the South East Area Committee and the Housing Strategic Policy Committee. I am Board member of Donnybrook Community Employment and Sandymount Community Services, Donnybrook Community Playschool and numerous other local, community and Dublin wide organisations. I am member of the Board of Scouting Ireland, the City of Dublin Education and Training Board and the Royal Hospital Donnybrook Board. I have published \u201cA Fair City -one Dublin, many Dubliners\u201d a road map for better Local Government in Dublin and \u201cAll the Red Ties\u201d a history of Donnybrook Scout Group.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100064479804399","https:\/\/x.com\/LaceyDermot","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dermot_Lacey"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c64cc588c5df31b1138bc99a10ce014c","name":"Webmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc5245e4711c8fb4daaaca8a812b0e5cacae4aca305bc61fbfac358c8d07fc3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc5245e4711c8fb4daaaca8a812b0e5cacae4aca305bc61fbfac358c8d07fc3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Webmaster"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie"],"url":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/author\/keith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}