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A COUPLE OF weeks ago I was invited to the launch of the “European Year of Development” in Dublin. As European launches go, it was different to the usual, dull, men-in-suits-making-speeches affair; we were treated to a programme of theatre, singing, bona fide clowns, and a brief appearance by President Michael D. Higgins. All development themed, naturally.
This year, 2015, has been designated the European Year of Development as, in a few months’ time, world leaders will sit down to agree new development targets for 2030. These are a successor of sorts to the Millennium Development Goals agreed in 2000, and will cover a similar range of areas like hunger, health, education, and gender inequality. As part of EYD15, citizens across Europe are being invited to become active on development issues. “One person can make a difference” proclaimed the matching T-shirts of a dozen enthusiastic volunteers on the day.
Can one person make a difference?
Writing something on a T-shirt does not necessarily make it true, but in fairness to the organisers, they did an excellent job of highlighting some of the people in Ireland making a positive difference in the development sphere. Attendees heard from Fashion Revolution, a small NGO set up in response to the Rana Plaza disaster; Down to Basics, a network of immigrant entrepreneurs; and Google Science Fair winners Émer Hickey, Ciara Judge and Sophie Healy-Throw, who recently made a discovery that could increase the production of certain foods by up to 70% and has considerable potential to help alleviate world hunger.
The problem with the premise that one person can make a difference, however, seems to be that these ‘change-making’ individuals are just that – individuals. In the “global north” we don’t tend to mobilise or make decisions on who to vote for based on development issues, which are perceived to be the problems of the “global south”.
Off the hook
In Ireland we like to pat ourselves on the back for filling the kids’ Trocaire box during Lent, thinking that we’ve done our bit for the “leanaí gorm”. We then feel free to give out about our state giving foreign aid, and we turn a blind eye to the dehumanising treatment of asylum seekers in our direct provision centres.
We also completely let ourselves off the hook when it comes to the devastating effects of climate change, despite it altering rain patterns, causing droughts, floods and storms, and seriously threatening the livelihoods of subsistence farmers in the global south. Few people seem willing to hear this however, even though ultimately weather extremes caused by climate change will also threaten our own food security.
The ‘growing south in the north’
It is perhaps not unreasonable to ask, as many people do, every time there is a headline about development aid, if the money Ireland gives in aid could not be better spend at home. However, this is something of a false dichotomy, which presumes the only options are either a) spend the money at home, or b) give it away. There are other, better options than cutting aid, such as perhaps c) stop facilitating tax avoidance or d) bring in an financial transactions tax, and use the additional revenue to address both.
Even if it were an either/or situation, it is still arguably in our interest to support development in the global south. Poverty at home and poverty abroad are surprisingly closely related, with the root causes of the “growing south in the north” – as Michael D dubbed it at the launch – lying largely in the modern mobility of capital across state-borders.
Forcing us to compete with countries and companies which have underdeveloped workers’ rights regimes exerts downwards pressure on our working conditions at home, and will continue to do so for as long as they are underdeveloped. Additionally, global tax avoidance, facilitated by ‘pro-business’ economic policies, undermines the ability of states to maintain decent public services and address the social issues around poverty, both at home and abroad.
As such, it’s in all our interests to ensure that not only are the post-2015 development goals met, but that global capitalism is brought to heel, if we would like to maintain a decent standard of living in the future.
Inevitably, our choices will either help or hurt others – so which will it be?
It is, in all honesty, difficult to know what to do or where to go from here. On one hand, the “one person can make a difference” mantra seems terribly naive and inadequate in the face of global capitalism. You might as well single-handedly attempt to move Everest. On the other hand, the positivity and enthusiasm of the ‘you can make a difference’ message is more likely (than complete demoralisation is, at any rate) to encourage people to work individually or collectively towards resolving social issues and/or reigning in capital.
What is clearer is that it’s less the case that one person “can” make a difference in the world than one person “does” make a difference, whether they intend to or not. We all contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide and to a greater or lesser extent perpetuate the system of capitalism. Perhaps the development of decent living standards in the global north and the south will always have their limitations, but some action is still definitely better than no action and ultimately it’s down to each of us to decide if the difference we inevitably make will mostly help or hurt other people.
As the reverse side of the enthusiastic volunteers’ T-shirts asked, in this the European Year of Development, what will you do?
Ciara Galvin was one of three former ‘Youth Media and the Irish Presidency’ project participants invited to cover the launch of #EYD15. She recently earned a Masters in Public Policy from UCD, and previously worked in the European Parliament.
A list of events on development being hosted by Dochas this year is available on their website.
Up to 40% of our national requirement .. Great progress … Much less to import now
We have to buy it off Shell the same as the imported gas… Either one can up the price and shut-off supply….. We gave it away to a foreign company for nothing with a falso tax rate on profits which shell never seem to make any with this rigs around the world. So little if any tax revenue… The only difference is that we see the offshore rig…. How is this progress?
If we left it for a public / state company to extract and process the gas we’d still be at the stage of overpaid civil servants debating on what colour the logo should be and spending money arm over fist … The state is incapable of doing this
It won’t make any difference Gggordon……….we will still pay the same international prices and any tax revenue to be gleaned by the Government will have to wait until all investment, overheads and ongoing costs are written off against profits…by the time that happens, we’ll be out of gas ….lol.
I what to do, get the state to do it! I hear John Tierney is free
Ireland is a joke, couldnt manage a pi$$ up in a brewery
Really is about time the anti democratic ‘protestors’ who cost the state an absolute fortune just buggered off with themselves. Whingers the lot of them.
anti democratic ‘protestors’ ahahahahhahah…
Oh and just bend over and continue taking accepting that our country is being constantly sold off. Your right.
Where do we start…..our oil, our gas (bord gas), our forests, Guinness, aer Lingus, our fish, our lottery, our roads, our tolls, Irish sugar, Irish steel…..the list goes on. Meanwhile 15% of the population cannot afford heating because these multi national companies push up the price. How dare they protest your right.
Well let’s see. How many ran for the Dail and got in? How many for the local council? They breached court orders, stood in the way of something that the vast majority of the country not only wanted but needed and contributed to a delay of ELEVEN years. They agreed to an independent study of the possible dangers and then ignored it when the American group tasked with the study didn’t report the way they wanted. And they cost us millions of Euro in overtime for police to look after their protest. So yeah, deliberately frustrating the will of the majority? That could be called anti democratic. And one of the Rossport idiots on 6.1 saying that it’s not over yet.
Quite clearly it is. And you should be billed for it, you fool
Well they know who to vote for then , don’t they.
And yet mysteriouslythey don’t.
The Rossport farce had nothing to do with the selling off of state assets. It was pure NIMBYISM. Why do you think their group was called Shell to Sea? Their “concern” about our gas didn’t manifest itself until much later on.
The rest of your list is actually funny. When did the state own Guinness FFS?
She’ll also breached a number of Court Orders, including a District Court Order.
Read Lorna Siggn’s even handed account.
Protest is a form of democratic action, especially when it is by local,action groups.
Shell played a smart game, it bought off the local Church, GAA, An Garda Siochana and some public representatives.
Fortunately Shell killed no one in Ireland, in contrast to Nigeria.
We never owned Guinness and we still own the forestry
Well Fiona as your good friend werejammin/For Connolly would say, “have you a link for all that?”
He’d also be well known as someone who would advise people like yourself, with bona fide information about criminality, to report it to the authorities at your earliest convenience.
After all someone like yourself, who holds other people to the most exacting standards with regard to their comments will, no doubt, have copious documentary and other evidence to back up your most serious allegations.
I’m looking forward to reading about your role in what will no doubt prove to be successful prosecutions for bribery and corruption.
I can’t wait for your reply, which I could write already.
PMSL are your good buddy would say.
Alan, you suffer from a combination of pride and prejudice, a closed mind and a hostility to any form of social activism. The most unfortunate of your attributes is your tendency to invent fictional Referenda and to be viciously insulting of and dismissive of any view which differs from your own.
Read the book by Lorna Siggins. It will inform you on the issues. As a teacher, yiu will understand, I hope, the need to inform yourself.
I have never seen anything positive or supportive you have ever posted other than expressing a pro Government and pro establishment perspective.
I would hate to have a child “taught” by you.
Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine were unlawfully executed by Nigeria in response to the influence and payments of Shell.
In September! Shell was convicted of intentional contempt of a May 2007 District Court Order. It is a matter of public record, first reported by the Mayo News. Shell intentionally ignored local rights of commonage.
BbC reported on the corrupt payments by Shell to Nigerian civil servants and senior politicians.
Fiona please stop wasting time and report the mountain of evidence you must have against the Church, the GAA, various Gardai and politicians. Your accusations are potentially explosive. Why are you wasting time on here when you have a moral duty to pass on the information you must have (after the accusations that you made) to bring the guilty to justice.
And look up projection on any psychology website. You might learn something!
Another fool with his not in my back garden stance… The idea is to do the job in the safest way which they havent and now have put local people at risk. But you’re not a risk so you just want you’re gas bill from the Irish resource that was given away. You’re a great yes man Alan, pat on the head for you
Perhaps the protest would rather we got our gas from the Russians or the Norwegians or the British ? What’s wrong with using our own gas ? ( no boring answers please )
We already get the gas from Norway and Russia.
We will not see any benefit from Shell and the Government.
The government ?
Jobs?
We might Aswell. If the cost of gas doesn’t reduce and I’m sure future generations will be more in need of are resources than us.
#our
Currently all gas used in Ireland is imported. It is brought in via 2 interconnectors.
The Kinsale Head Gas field is a gas storage facility which is registered in the Cayman Islands and owned by a far east gas storage company.
The gas introduced by Royal Dutch Shell will have no benefit to us other than the fact that more gas will be available.
The government sold our rights via Ray Burke
do boring answers include the truth of the matter or do you care about that?… it is not our “own” gas…
p.s. much respect to you sir for propping your bike up against a national monument!
To be fair Anthony if the price came down people might welcome it a little easier but we know it will prob go up
Shell are British ya clown
Sorry now but Royal Dutch Shell to give it its full name is not British.
As much as you want to believe rhe are british, royal dutch shell is registered in texas, which is in the USA, ya clown.
Anglo / Dutch
headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell
[fwiw]
Ahhh boo hoo, All the English trustafarian hippy protesters down there aren’t happy
Shame on ff fg labour for giving away our gas.
Who else could build a gas pipeline? You can hardly expect enda himself to go out and dig it with his bare hands!!
Yes the gas must flow and it must flow now, even if its an asset that will only appreciate in value and that we could have gotten a much better deal on later (ie one that would actually of been of financial benefit to Ireland).
Any idea how poor Norway was before they created their own oil and gas company and pumped their own? They didn’t know who to build it either! Investment in your own country is never money lost. But we got 5mil and gave away billions
It is not our own gas. Ray Burke and cronies seen to that years back.
Great news…. If you think that the exploitation of Ireland’s natural resources and environmental destruction for the benefit of a private energy company is a good thing
It benefits the private company and the state. Without the private company, nothing happens. We don’t have the technology to set up a state owned company with the resources of Shell.
Cal, a bit of sense, thank you. To all of you who object to gas distribution. Simply register your objections by asking esb and an bord gais to disconnect your house. Win win. Save the planet, and show ‘em
Then we develop the tech and do it ourselves problem solved.
The gullible Irish delighted that a global Corporation, paying little or no tax here, extracts Ireland’s natural resources, at little no cost from our government, and sells it back to them. No mention of the damage and upset it does to the local environment and population.
Jobs
We should be lucky we’re not in Nigeria. A few protesters might have tripped and fallen on some bullets. I’m sure the right people got their brown envelopes to make all this happen.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/shell-nigeria-oil-payment-corruption-scandal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3796375.stm
F all jobs.
Better than f no jobs
Maybe we should have got the semi state to do it
Disgrace.
A triumph of the powerful over the powerless.
We were told yesterday how a pro shell government candidate (Michael Ring) out polled a shell to see candidate 4 to 1 in Rossport in 2007
Hyperbole at its finest
Whinging and that unique Irish begrudgery at it’s finest.
Begrudging the gift of billions to Shell of our resources at the risk of the local people in the area?? Pat on the head for you
A triumph for common sense.
I’d say there’s a few crates of “donated” booze being cracked open tonight.
Sounds like the crusties haven’t had sense knocked into them yet.
Spoken by a bovine intelligence, George the cow.
To be quite honest I thought it was long up and running by now.
Hallelujah
Will gas get cheaper now..?
LOL
No
Selling off Irelands resources for a song….this crowd would turn Newgrange into block of flats if the envelope was thick enough.
Wholesale gas is currently at the lowest uts been in 7 years.
“an important milestone for the country and….
bring many long term benefits to the Irish economy and consumers.”
Yeah right, sold off for a fist full of sterling and a few crates of booze, another corporate heist compliments of our corrupt system.
Shell Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__JEyNMIeBk
That rhymes!!!
Company shell they smell..
Like methane..
Such a beautiful part of Ireland. I really hope that there is no incident in the future that we’ll universally regret, because you can’t turn back time.
When are they going to add those billions to the national exchequer? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ireland’s shame.
With some creative accounting on shell’s part that former Irish gas field is going to make some Americans, Dutch and English very rich despite never officially turning a profit or paying a single cent in tax.
Warai is twenty years since they first discovered the gas, do you not think they’re entitled to some return on their huge investment. If it was up to begrudgers like you, we never would have made it out of the stone age, because the guy making the bronze tools might turn a profit for his work
Let us not forget the active complicity of Shell in the unlawful executions Ken Saro-Wiwa and of the Ogoni Nine.
Great news for North Mayo. Will put Bangor & Belmullet on the map.
For the views?
That is good. The crusty protestors must have cost us a fortune. Message to the sts protestors: now bugger off and get a proper job!
Not in my back garden… Remember this narrow view of yours if the unrefined pipeline goes bang… Without my last statement I bet you couldn’t tell us why they were protesting
Dear Throw9Away,
If the pipe goes BANG, then they will fix it.
Water pipes also leak. Should we ban water supplies?
Electricity faults also kill people.
so do cars.
Mobile phones radiate RF radiation.
so we ban gas pipes, water pipes, electricity wires and cars.
No phones or masts.
Throw9Away, what do you think is OK.?
The problem is the gas in this pipeline, until it hits the onshore refinery, is unrefined… Other elements that corrode the pipe over time are carried onshore with it. How do you inspect for internal corrosion? The other elements add to the combustion of an explosion and make a potentially deadly scenario over a larger area… It’s a massive risk to the locals. Water, electricity and phones don’t explode. Look done is done and I hope nothing happens and it’s a boost for all but the risk taken was not in the best interest of the Irish people at large. Let’s not forget when the 2 junior ministers signed off on this deal it was pre 2007
1) Q:How do you inspect for internal corrosion?:A Ultrasonic NDT. look it up.
2) massive risk to the locals: I didnt think that the pipe was routed through anyone’s house.
3) Electricty substations and transformers certainly do explode.
4) mobile phone and laptop batteries also explode.
5) Gas leaks cause houses regularly to blow up.
6) Cars kill lots and lots of people.
7) RF radiation from your mobile phone fries your brain.
7) Water pipes burst, and the fountains make locals all wet.
Life has certain risks!
You should live in a teepee in a forest.
Radiation and dodgy batteries?! Take off that tinfoil hat and have a pint for yourself man! Its NYE ya suck!
Radiation and dodgy batteries? Take off that tinfoil hat and have a pint for yourself! It’s NYE ya suck!
More of this, more, more, more development and extraction of resources that reduce the need to import from dodgy third world countries like Russia and Nigeria. We get the economic development in terms of construction, operation and distribution, as well as the tax revenue from companies like Shell. A complete win-win.
Having said all that, contracts need to be set up so the state gets a significant slice of the action, especially when prices go back up.
Barn. Door,
We get to pay for the gas, pay for the infrastructure, pay for the maintenance… You know Shell isn’t paying to hook up to the network? 85% is going offshore to other markets so we will not see anything in tax… Correct on better contracts and Shell made a great job of everyone’s drive in the area but in total it’s billions lost
More gas exploration, more fracking exploration, consider nuclear. Less importing of energy from putin and the wahhabis.
Some of you guys need to look at the documentary The Pipe. But I suppose since it’s not in your back yard all is well eh?
Note:
A solar capture farm in the eternally sunlit Sahara desert the size Ireland can provide Europe with all energy necessary forever.
No oil needed.
Who is stopping this?
.
Lunatics.
P.S
By “lunatics” I meant all the gunslingers around that region waving books written in the Bronze Age.
The wind has tens of millions of times more limitless energy than gas or oil.
.
Watch your shed when the wind gets angry.
Pity the wind is far more costly than gas isn’t it, as well as having dodgy looking turbines blighting the pristine landscape.
Turbines bad, explosive pipeline good.
How often do they explode? Genuine question.
Done a bit of study on this in 2008/9. The comparison would be every single unrefined pipeline has exploded at some stage… It was an American ex military guys report
Totally incorrect. Check your facts.
OMG. The pipe has exploded on the first day of operation. Millions of people gassed.
A bit of reading for your ignorant self… But this wasn’t anywhere near you so who cares… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents
Yippe!
Thank you Shell for your tenacity, those crusty protestors must have been a pain
Nice to see the reduction in gas prices.http://m.rte.ie/news/business/2015/1229/756666-wholesale-gas-prices/
Free gas for shell I’d say the can’t believe their luck what a stupid country we live in
With a 3.6 billion build cost it’s not exactly free
If the construction of this pipeline and the distribution of gas had been left to the state, it would be like giving it`s management to the HSE.
The idiotic Irish always go the wrong way.
Gas.
Reports of flaring of gas around new years day in mayo it seems the pressure already is too high to cold vent any comments buster brown? Its on you tube.
A big white elephant really…
The crusty protesters have cost the Irish economy €600 million in lost revenue.
It would have been better spent on education, healthcare, welfare or infrastructure.
Shell to Sea campaigners: You have done your country a real disservice.
There is no revenue in it as the government here has given away all the money Shell makes from it to Shell, the government has given it away for free… Dumb SOB’s…
have your say