Lobby group finds plenty of room on Grafton Street to swing a 'fat cat'

Shoppers on Dublin's Grafton Street came face to face with the corporate world's ugly underbelly yesterday - or at least the green lobby's impression of it.

A 30-foot, cigar-smoking "fat cat" towered menacingly above pedestrians as a timely reminder of the power of big business.

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), which erected the inflatable to coincide with next week's earth summit, described "the corporate giant" in somewhat greater detail.

"With a cigar in his mouth and pockets bulging with €s", it was "an illustration to Irish decision-makers and to the wider public that a global framework for binding corporate accountability is a prerequisite for sustainable development," the group said.

The "binding global framework" in question - as envisaged by the FOEI - would offer redress mechanisms for those harmed by multinational corporations, including rights of access to commercial information.

The concept is being promoted by the lobby group ahead of the Johannesburg summit because the preceding summit in Rio "failed to set a climate to deliver sustainable development because it missed the opportunity to hold big business accountable".

FOEI activist Mr Tom Prendeville said the need for legislation guaranteeing citizen rights was underlined by the recent Government proposal to fast-track plans for incinerators, landfill sites and other waste management facilities.

He said the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, was "eroding local democracy" to the benefit of companies such as Indaver.

The firm, which was planning incinerators in Meath and Cork, "was being facilitated against the wishes of the public".