Forgotten Climate

The Irish Government's Autumn 2010 legislation programme, which was published yesterday, has failed to include a Climate Bill.

The Government committed itself last December to passing a climate law in 2010 but with only three months of the year remaining, that is looking increasingly doubtful. Yesterday was yet another missed deadline.

As previously mentioned, nearly half of all sitting TDs recently signed up to the Stop Climate Chaos climate commitment which secured their support for the passing of a strong climate bill.

It's time the Irish Government listens to the will of its people and their representatives.

Update: Israeli Flotilla Raid - Illegal

It's been reported today that the UN Human Rights Council has found that Israel's military broke multiple international laws when it raided the Gaza bound flotilla in May of this year.

In addition, the UN body also called the Israeli blockade unlawful in itself.

Israel has already denounced the findings as biased but once again a UN body has found the actions of Israel to be contrary to international law.

However, whether or not there will be appropriate consequences is another matter.

Update: Civil Partnership

The Irish Times today reported that campaigners have seized on the paper's Behaviour & Attitudes poll which shows that a large majority of people in Ireland support a move towards civil marriage legislation for same-sex couples.

The poll found that 67% of people believe gay couples should be allowed to marry and interestingly a further 60% do not believe such a move would undermine the institution of marriage.

Surely there are still some brave TDs in the Dáil who will now listen to the people and stick their neck outs by working to achieve true equality for same-sex couples.

Gaza Moments

French photographer, Anne Paq, has released a short video of her latest clips and photographs of the people of Gaza;

Charitable Well-Being

Ireland has been ranked joint third (with Canada) in the Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index. The index is the result of a study that analysed the generosity of the world's countries based on people's financial donations and the amount of time they volunteer.

Interestingly, the study concluded that there was a stronger link between well-being and giving than there was between a country's wealth and giving. Quite simply, when we are happy, we are more charitable. And our happiness is not solely dependent on the country's wealth. However, that is not to suggest that we resurrect the dated image of the poor but happy Irish. It is simply a statistical finding worthy of further consideration.

For instance, a country's wealth has no bearing on the population if it's squandered. So for all the recent attention and importance that our politicians have given to Ireland's GDP, they must remember that the people need more than money in the country's coffers in order to be happy. They need it in their pockets too. There will always be those who have more than others but without a genuine redistribution of wealth, a high GDP is irrelevant to the vast majority of Irish citizens. One recent example is how the Samaritans warned that some people with suicidal feelings are choosing not to visit their doctor due to the high cost. At a time when the suicide rate is rising in Ireland, this is an extremely worrying development and is being inadequately addressed by those in power.

Behind all the statistics lie the people. Every fact and figure is simply a reference point for another person's life. The decisions that politicians make based on numbers affect the lives of people and it's about time they realised that.

Real Leadership?

Here's an interesting short video exploring what it means to be a leader and whether the world really needs many?