Political World
World leaders meetin in Paris for climate talks
World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
I arrived in Paris late on Sunday night with a very strong sense of, yep you guessed it, déjà vu.
I’m here for the best part of two weeks covering the climate change talks. I was in Copenhagen for the same UN summit six years ago. The ‘feel’ was similar. So many countries taking part, over 190. So many delegates, tens of thousands. Same out-of-city venue, a massive hall in the middle of a business zone. Same tight security. Same hopes. Same urgency. Same uncertainty.
Of course, the security is even tighter this time, because of the unspeakable terrorist atrocity that shocked everyone to the core last month.
It’s a while since I wrote at length about climate change and you remember all the complicated concepts, and all the acronyms. It’s called COP 21. The COP part stands for Conference of Parties and the 21 means it’s the 21st that has been held.
It is part of the United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). One of the big things that will feature (especially from Ireland’s point of view) is LULUCF. That is ‘land use, land-use change, Forestation’. And on and on it goes.
The name of the game is to try to limit the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial age levels. So far, 160 countries have signed pledges setting out what they intend to do. Some are conservative, yet others ambitious but achievable.
For example, US President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in America by up to 28% by 2025. China had also come on board and has committed to reducing its carbon intensity by up to 65% by 2030, with a mix of renewables and afforestation.
That’s a big advance for both since Copenhagen. Of course, Obama will face resistance from a Republican-dominated Congress, with plenty of climate change sceptics. But he’s made it a posterity issue during his second term and is determined. If you look at India, it too has made big progress and is putting huge emphasis on solar power.
Before the conference started, when you added the 160 or more pledges together you got a cumulative increase of 2.7°C. Which is still too far short of the target.
And there is a minority of countries – oil producers like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states – which have not made pledges. They remain the most resistant.
On Monday, more than 150 world leaders met in Paris for a leaders’ day (you can imagine the security – the whole city was in gridlock for the day).
Taoiseach Enda Kenny set out Ireland’s position later on that day, getting three minutes to outline what the Government’s position is.
Of course, Ireland is party to the European Union submission which commits the 29 States to reduce emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Academically, politics is described as a science. But in the real world, it’s more of an art – and one of the big decisions a Government has to make is to decide when to call an election.
Will they see out the full term, or will they go early – either to mitigate the damage they will ship, or to secure a victory before things go awry, or the economy takes a dip, or some kind of controversy erupts?
Timing is everything.
And there’s a bit of art to that – not to mention a lot of luck. If you call it early and win big, you’re a genius. If you call it early and lose, you are the political version of the village fool.
Charlie Haughey was a poor judge of the public mood. Twice he called snap elections and on both occasions they backfired. Haughey succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in late 1979 and did not – technically – have his own mandate. He tried to remedy that by calling an election in 1981. But it recoiled. Ray MacSharry warned him not to hold it during the H Block hunger strikes when republican prisoners were dying each day. He did not listen to the advice and found himself out of office.
After his return to power in 1987, Haughey tired of presiding over a minority government that kept on losing votes in the Oireachtas (the opposition won nine private members motions).
So he called a snap general election and it backfired. Fianna Fáil lost seats and had to broker a coalition deal with the Progressive Democrats and his long-standing political adversary Dessie O’Malley.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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World of Politics with Harry McGee
I was cycling down Mount Street in Dublin on Tuesday. It’s a wide esplanade that links the Grand Canal with Merrion Square. The street is a mixture of fine Georgian buildings and modern office blocks.
About half-way down is the office of the International Protection Office, which deals with asylum seekers who have arrived in the country.
Needless to say, the office has been overwhelmed in the past year. Besides an estimated 80,000 refugees who have arrived from Ukraine, there have been about 20,000 people from other parts of the world who have arrived into Dublin (mostly) claiming asylum.
The numbers peaked around Christmas, but they have been falling a little. In January, more than 1,300 people arrived seeking asylum but the numbers fell back to 831 and 858, in February and March respectively.
They are still huge numbers in a historical context.
So back to my cycle on Tuesday. I knew that some asylum seekers were camping outside the International Protection Office, but I was taken aback by how many. There were six tents lined up on the pavement directly outside. Then on the ramp that led down to the basement carpark on the side of the building, there were about another 20 tents.
It looked like what it was, a refugee camp in the middle of Dublin’s business district. If you pan out from Mount Street, you will find tents here and there in nearby streets and alleys. There were a good few tents in an alleyway off Sandwith Street about 500 metres away.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
God that was a dramatic and historic weekend in England, wasn’t it? So much excitement, so much change, so much hype, so much out with the old and in with the new, and what looks like the coronation of a new leader. Yes, the local elections in Britain were something else weren’t they!
Apologies for not going on about King Charles III but the contract I signed when I became a lifelong republican forbids me to discuss the topic!
I know the British local elections sound a bit boring by comparison, but the results were stunning.
The Conservatives lost nearly 1,000 seats, the British Labour Party gained almost 500 and both the Lib Dems (with 350 gains) and the Greens (gaining over 200) also had amazing days at the polls.
It was Labour’s best day since 2002 but its victory was only partial. The Greens and the Lib Dems actually made gains at the expense of Labour in more affluent areas, and in parts of Britain where there were high numbers of graduates.
It was in the Red Wall constituencies in the North of England where the Labour recovery was strongest. These are working class constituencies with pockets of deprivation where people voted for the Labour Party forever. But all of those constituencies voted for Brexit and then voted for the Tories in the next general election. Labour is now winning back some of those votes.
Local elections are classified as second-tier elections which essentially means – from a national perspective – they are not life-or-death affairs, and not everything turns on them. Of course, it’s really important to have good local representation. But they are not an amazing weather vane for who rules the country.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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