A NEW Department for Sustainable Development would be a key demand of the Green Party in government, delegates at the party's spring convention in Malahide, Co Dublin, were told at the weekend.
A referendum on the single currency, "real" reform of the tax system, and a national waste reduction programme placing new responsibilities on households were other major policies outlined by senior party members.
The party's environment spokesman, Mr Gerry Boland said it was entering the forthcoming election with "clear and unambiguous demands" for a future government coalition.
The party wanted a new government portfolio, a Department for Sustainable Development, which would play a prominent role in formulating all government policies, he said.
It would work closely with other departments to ensure all government policies adhered to strict principles of sustainable development. "At the moment, policies are being pursued which contradict each other in the most fundamental ways in terms of protecting the environment.
Mr Boland also sharply criticised the Environmental Protection Agency, which the Green Party wanted to see restructured and better resourced. He said a survey he was conducting among community and environmental groups around the State, concerning the EPA and other State agencies, would probably form the basis of a complaint to the EU Environment Commissioner.
"If early responses are an indication of the level of dissatisfaction among these groups with the EPA and other State bodies, our report will be a hard hitting indictment of the Government's commitment to protecting our environment," he said.
Concerns which had been raised with him about the EPA included questions regarding its independence, the quality of many of its reports, "that the agency does not operate as an independent watchdog and is almost totally reactive instead of pro active ... and the fact that there is no NGO representation adds to the widespread perception that industry has an undue influence on decisions."
He criticised the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, for failing to "deal imaginatively and effectively with the Waste crisis". The Green Party wanted to see a national waste reduction programme, including a requirement for householders to separate their compostable waste material from other household waste.
The party's finance and social welfare spokesman, Mr Dan Boyle, said the Greens' "big economic idea" was green tax reform.
"If in government, we will work towards the shifting of tax collection away from income tax and "PRSI and on to new environmental taxes, chiefly an energy tax, but also on taxes to discourage dereliction and speculation, as well as taxes on waste and pollution."
These were not the ideas of a "fevered imagination", Mr Boyle said they had been examined by respected institutions. The ESRI had declared an energy tax to be feasible, and the OECD had examined environmental taxes in member states and shown where they were being collected successfully.
"There is an inevitability about environmental taxes that other political parties in this country are unwilling to grasp," he added. "If not introduced soon as replacement taxes, they may well be imposed by the European Commission. The Minister for Finance is well aware of this fact."
Mr Boyle said the fulcrum of "economic activity was the local community, and the Green Party was sceptical about any proposal that sought to remove economic power and control further away from the people. The "seeming juggernaut" of European Monetary Union (EMU) was ill thought out and could inflict great damage on the economy.
"Our breakneck attempts to be good Europeans have seen us reduce our national debt at a faster rate than other EU countries have been willing to do. In doing so, we have deprived ourselves of valuable social expenditure options," Mr Boyle said.
"In view of this, the Green Party calls for a referendum to decide whether or not Ireland should participate, in a single European currency.
The support of the State research body, Teagasc, for genetic engineering experiments in crop production was criticised by the party's spokeswoman on agriculture, food, forestry and rural development, Ms Paula Giles.
She claimed Teagasc was dependent for funding on companies such as Monsanto, which had applied to the EPA to field trial genetically engineered sugarbeet - the first genetically engineered crop to be applied for in Ireland. Many people had been shocked by statements from Teagasc representatives which supported such experiments.
Ms Giles added that despite a 12 per cent decrease in arable acreage throughout EU countries as a result of the "morally bankrupt system of set aside", the total weight of pesticide active ingredient applied had increased by 4 per cent.
The Green Party was committed to rooting out dishonesty in politics, the convention was told by its TD, Mr Trevor Sargent.
Commenting on the "greed" and "obsession with economic growth" of the other parties, Mr Sargent, the party's only deputy, said he was the only public representative who had spoken up about being sent a cheque from a developer who wished to have agricultural land rezoned.
Fianna Fail and Labour, when in government, and the present coalition, had refused to grant immunity to witnesses to help with a Garda investigation.
"Tax evasion, building without permission, lies, fraud and backhanders have no place in a Green government," he said.
The former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr John Gormley, said a considered approach on crime was required which recognised one of its root causes was "the question of drugs".
"People in deprived areas do not take drugs primarily for pleasure. They take drugs to avoid pain," he said.
A proper strategy on providing more detoxification and rehabilitation centres, an extension of the juvenile liaison scheme and a low grade prison for first time and minor offenders were required.
"We would introduce a witness protection programme and criminal immunity legislation. We would also have a more visible police force," he said.
Mr Sargent said the other political parties were obsessed with more and more economic growth. Uncritical acclaim for an increase in Gross National Product due to increased crime expenditure was insane.
He said the left talked about social need, the right about personal freedom. "But what both will forget to tell you is that they believe car numbers can keep on increasing forever; they believe that pollution is acceptable as long as it is licensed; they believe that farming is only possible with chemicals . . . They believe that economic growth can continue to consume more oil, more agricultural land; can continue to desecrate once vibrant rural communities, and pack people into cities with overcrowded classrooms," he said.
If targeted growth rates were followed through, in 200 years more would need to be consumed in a day than is currently consumed in a year "How can this continue when the earth is of limited size and resources?" he asked.
He said that despite increased economic growth, more children, lived in poverty now than 10 years ago, companies were accumulating cash reserves while shedding workforces and so called free trade was increasing the gap between rich and poor.
The other parties were not in favour of a clean environment, and were, with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, blocking a European Commission backed initiative to shift the burden of tax from the worker to machinery and energy, "a central Green Party policy to cut CO2 emissions", he said.
They are all locked into the only type of economics they know the economics of cancer which must grow and grow, eating the earth like a tumour," he said.
The Green Party was pledged to a sane, humane society, through local democracy and international co operation, he added.