Greens in Government

The Irish Green Party has found itself in Government for the first time during a very interesting but extraordinarily challenging period. Little did we realise when we optimistically negotiated the 2007-2012 Programme for Government with our coalition partners that we were about to face into the worst global, and domestic economic recession since the 1930’s. It was always our intention to have a substantial green component in the new Programme for Government. We negotiated that programme before the concept of a “Green New Deal” began to be promoted in political debate across the European Union, particularly in the run-up to the European and local elections in June 2009. Following those elections, and given the rapid deterioration in Ireland ’s economic circumstances since the government was formed, the Green Party negotiated a mid-term “Renewed Programme for Government” with our partners in November 2009. This renewed programme included a strengthened ‘green’ component as part of the Irish Government’s response to the economic and labour market challenges facing this country.

Economic and financial challenges

Indeed Ireland is currently experiencing a range of significant economic and financial challenges that require immediate and radical action. In addition to the obvious need to get our public finances in order, the Irish Government must identify new economic sectors that will stimulate growth, job creation and new sources of revenue for the Exchequer. In this respect, the Green New Deal could provide the both the policy framework and the necessary stimulus to promote economic recovery in this country.  And the challenges facing the Irish economy should not be underestimated. It is currently forecast to contract by 7.75% (GNP by 8%) in 2009. A further contraction is anticipated for 2010, albeit not to the same extent as this year. The sharp contraction reflects both the correction in the house-building sector and the deterioration in the external environment. The unemployment rate is currently at 12.5% – its highest level since the mid 1990s. Conditions in the labour market remain poor with labour-intensive areas such as construction and the retail sector taking the brunt of the adjustment. A return to a more sustainable pace of expansion based on export-led growth is expected in the medium term. This recovery however is dependent upon an improvement in the global economy and on implementing suitable domestic policies that position the Irish economy to take advantage of any such global recovery. For this reason, a genuine European-wide co-ordination of Member State’s economic and financial policies in support of a Green New Deal paradigm will be very important in assisting Ireland to ensure that its own domestic ‘green’ economic policies will act as a strong driver of recovery and growth in this country, and also to ensure that the European Union is in a leadership position internationally in relation to green enterprise and green technology.

Government Strategy for Economic Recovery

So where does the Green New Deal fit into the broad strategy of the Irish Government in relation to economic recovery? That government strategy includes stabilising and restoring sustainability to the public finances with an expected deficit of below the 3 per cent of GDP in line with the Stability and Growth Pact threshold by the end 2013 (or 2014 as the EU Commission has recently proposed); ensuring the economy’s flexibility and resilience through the adjustment of asset prices, wage levels and prices to the new circumstances; planning to continue to invest well in excess of the EU average in Ireland’s stock of productive infrastructure in order to enhance competitiveness ; maintaining Ireland’s relatively low burden of tax on business and investing in education at all levels in order to ensure Irish workers have the skills demanded by high-technology firms.

Developing Green Enterprise

Central to the Irish Government’s medium-term framework for economic development “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy- a Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal”- is the vision of Ireland as an Innovation Island . Opportunities for the development of green enterprise are central to this vision, recognising the need to move to a low-carbon economy. A number of initiatives are underway to identify and deliver further action. These initiatives include the establishment of an Innovation Task Force and a High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise. Other areas of focus include using public procurement as a demand-side driver of innovation to provide easier access to SMEs and innovative companies to public procurement tendering. Research and Development has also been identified as a major engine of growth for the Irish economy. A new national strategy for higher education has been launched with the aim of providing a vision and a set of policy objectives in this sector over the coming 20 years. The EU research agenda complements our national priorities with an emphasis on moving new discoveries from the research stage to the marketplace. It is anticipated that gross expenditure in Ireland on R&D should increase to 2.5% by 2013.
Unlocking the business potential of SMEs

The 2008 Global Entrepeneur Monitor (G.E.M.) Report for Ireland confirms that Ireland is at heart an entrepreneurial nation and to the fore in Europe in both the rate of early stage entrepreneurial activity, and in the rate of established entrepeneurs amongst the adult population. Against this background of a high level of entrepreneurial activity, SMEs remain very much at the centre of the Irish Government’s Enterprise policy. The Government has introduced a number of supports for the SME sector : the establishment of an Enterprise Stabilisation Fund with assistance from the EU’s Temporary Framework on State Aid to assist companies to grow internationally ; a 100 million Environmental and Clean Energy Innovation  Fund  and a further 15 million each to new or existing seed capital funds. The recommendations of the Procurement Innovation Group are also being implemented through a new initiative that should increase SME’s access to public procurement tenders.

Smart Telecommunications Technology

The ‘Technology Action to Support the Smart Economy’ report was launched by the Department of Energy and Communications in July 2009. Consistent with the need to move to a low-carbon economy, the report places particular emphasis on low energy models for communications networks and infrastructure. The actions identified in the report include implementing an Exemplar Smart Communications Network ; Energy Efficient Data Centres and Cloud Computing; International Content Services Centre and Smart Electricity Networks.

Green Enterprise Opportunities

The High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise, which is a key driver for the development of green enterprise in Ireland , was established in 2009. This group is to build on work carried out as part of a previous study on enterprise opportunities in the environmental goods and services sector. This study identified those areas which were considered to have the greatest potential: Renewable Energies, efficient energy use and management, including eco-construction, waste management, recovery and recycling, water and wastewater treatment and environmental consultancy and services. In addition to this the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has led an Enterprise Opportunities sub-group of the Electric Vehicles group, which has examined how to exploit the opportunities for Irish business associated with electric vehicles.
Green Technology Support Scheme

Enterprise Ireland administers the Green Tech Support Scheme that was launched in 2008. The new scheme builds on the existing environmentally superior products and environmental management systems supports. The Scheme allows clients to apply for a more extensive range of supports in the area of : Implementing Environmental standards, Environmentally Superior Products, Measuring Carbon Footprint and Applying for Eco-labels. Implementation of the EU’s Eco-design for Energy-Using Products (EUP) Directive is now underway.

Renewable Energy.

The current Programme for Government sets out ambitious targets for increasing the use of renewable energy and dramatically improving energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy. The most important recent advance has been the finalisation of the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This Directive sets challenging targets for the overall penetration of renewables into energy use in 2020 (16% in Ireland ’s case) but also sets a target for renewable energy in transport of 10% that applies to all Member States. The Renewable Energy sector is expected to provide considerable new business and job-creation opportunities over the coming years. Ocean energy has the potential to provide an important source of alternative energy in Ireland , and to allow this country to become a leader in the field. A major programme of activity grants and supports to develop ocean energy in Ireland in its development stage was launched in January 2008 to support the development, piloting demonstration and testing phases. This will include a world class state-of-the-art National Ocean Energy facility based in one of our universities, the development of a grid-connected wave energy test site in the West of Ireland, grants under the Ocean Energy Prototype Fund and a new feed-in tariff under the REFIT scheme for Wave Energy.

The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

The Irish Government is committed to achieving 20% energy savings across the economy by 2020. As part of this energy efficiency drive the Government has also committed to achieving a 33% energy saving across our public sector institutions by 2020. Ireland published its National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) in May 2009. The Action Plan sets out 90 actions that Government is already taking or will take in the period to 2020 to achieve the energy efficiency targets while reducing our CO2 emissions by approximately 5.7 million tonnes. The savings identified in the Action plan represent approximately 1.6 billion euros in avoided energy costs for the economy in 2020.

National Insulation Programme for Economic Recovery

In February 2009 Ireland launched its National Insulation Programme for Economic Recovery. The programme involves a three-pronged approach to addressing the legacy of older housing with poor energy efficiency standards. The Programme has the potential to contribute to the creation to the creation of 4,000 direct and indirect jobs thus contributing to the Government’s priority objective of maintaining and creating employment through the implementation of the Green New Deal.

Conclusion

Due to limits on space, this article has not done full justice to the scope of the Irish Government’s implementation of its ‘Green New Deal’, part of its broader strategy to promote economic recovery in this country. In particular the article has said nothing about the government’s commitment to introduce a carbon tax for the first time in the 2009 budget, and or the political agreement that has been reached to introduce domestic water charges and land-based taxes in the medium term. Instead this article has attempted to sketch the broad outlines of the Irish Green New Deal, a programme that owes much of its existence, and its innovative character, to the presence of the Green Party in Government in Ireland. Certainly much more could be done to popularise the concept of a “Green New Deal” in both our national political discourse, and at a European level. While the Irish public is aware that green enterprise and green technology will form an important part of our programme of national economic recovery, what is lacking is an understanding of the overarching policy framework or paradigm within which the significant transition to a low carbon economy needs to occur. The Irish Green Party attempted to package the various policy initiatives we were introducing in Government as part of a “Green New Deal” during the local and European election campaigns in June 2009. However, while business generally, and particularly small businesses, were very responsive to the idea, it failed to gain popular currency. The failure of the Irish public to fully comprehend what a Green New Deal represents was not helped by the fact that a co-ordinated EU-wide Green New Deal has not been fully adopted or promoted by the main EU institutions.

This is despite the fact that the implementation of a Green New Deal makes most sense at EU level, notwithstanding the obvious political challenges in reaching agreement on a genuinely European-wide financial stimulus package. Much greater economies of scale apply at EU level in relation to the development of new and essential ‘green’ transport and energy infrastructure. The provision of green, environment-related services across Europe will be greatly facilitated by the full implementation of the EU Services Directive in December of this year, and will create significant business opportunities for any Member State in which the environmental services sector is already well developed. Considerable opportunities also exist to develop EU-wide vocational training programmes and accreditation systems for green-collar jobs. As it stands, Ireland, along with other Member States, is implementing its own version of the Green New Deal at national level, but without the economies of scale, financial efficiencies and pooling of expertise that could be delivered under a genuinely European-wide approach. This is unfortunate. It is to be hoped that the lobbying efforts of the Green Group in the European Parliament will result in the mobilisation of political will at the level of the EU Commission, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament that will result in the Green New Deal being fully adopted and promoted by the European Union.as the official policy framework within which the economic recovery of its Member States is pursued.

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