Once upon a time, in a bog faraway, people drowned kittens.
They would cram a kitten or two or five in a dirty fertiliser bag in which they’d put a big rock and as the cats squealed and clawed and scratched and cried, they’d tie the bag with a length of twine.
The bags kicking with life were lugged in squelching boots to the lake or bog and dropped into the dark waters. As the meowing stopped, hands were wiped and back to the house then for tea and soda bread.
The mammy cat would wander around wondering where most of her litter were gone. One of two were saved to kill rats and mice. The others were gone to the deep.
It’s not so long ago. Some might still do it.
It’s a horrible, horrible thing to do. It’s cruel. It should never have been allowed. It shouldn’t be going on now. It has no place in society.
What do you think of why it was done? Is the mindset wrong of someone who would drown cats instead of going to a vet? Are “country folk” different from “city people”?
The bags used to drown kittens were old fertiliser bags – the same bags used when the turf was saved (even the phrase ‘saved’ has connotations). Cutting, harvesting, footing, saving the turf was a livelihood for some, a ritual for many, a hobby for others and a pain-in-the-back! I saved turf with my father in the Sally Gap in Wicklow. My father had done it as a gasuun growing up in Cloone in Leitrim. He wanted to hand down the tradition.
And tradition is important. But not as important as saving the planet - or is it?
Turf is one of the most polluting of the solid fuels on sale in Ireland at present. It produces a lot of carbon dioxide. I'm not going to bamboozle you with figures but look at the EPA reports (which I've read extensively) and the science is stark. Turf burning also produces a lot of what are called 'particulate matter' which pollute the air you might be breathing in your sitting room.
Not enough people knew or know about the health matters. Last fortnight was the first time I had heard of the possible link between burning a few sods and dementia. I was wondering where did it come from? What scientists? What reports? Why hadn't I read them? How long is that out there? I wondered was I missing something, why hadn't I heard this before and shouldn't I have known this as I'm a journalist, etc?
The figure of 1,300 people dying each year in Ireland from emissions was thrown out, with some (inadequate) breakdowns of how many people die from inhaling turf smoke.
"Shocking, pathetic and embarrassing"
It was all lumped together by politicians on the defensive after the news came out via a parliamentary question that the sale of turf was going to become an offence - basically a criminal offence.
The entire episode should be studied by students of politics across the land in how NOT to run a health or political campaign.
It was shocking, pathetic and embarrassing.
Green party activists privately told me they were furious at how it came out, how it was handled, how it has damaged not just them but the Climate Change movement.
And the Greens are supposed to be smart. They are supposed to be full of college graduates who know now to put out media releases, how to explain policies, how to formulate strategy and how to save the planet. If they are made look like fools on one of the above ingredients, it damages all the rest.
And they made a complete bags of it. They didn't shoot themselves in the foot but they let the bag of turf fall on their foot and their toes are very badly bruised. They are limping now. They actually might not recover from this - that's how damaging this is for them.
And I like some of the Greens. I believe in many of their policies. I love their passion. I like their hope in the future of humankind. I think many of them are nice people, too nice maybe.
But I'm furious with them. Really, really angry. They are supposed to be the custodians of Climate Strategy, of 'Just Transition', of COP22. They have let us down. When I say us, I mean all those who might have given them a number 2 or 3 (I didn't give them a No 1) because the crisis facing humankind is so serious. They have let themselves down, they have let everyone who voted for them down. They didn't bring the Just Transition announcements BEFORE the punishment announcements. They put the cart before the donkey.
They do some things well, like helping introduce 20% cut in public transport charges. When that was rolled-out a fortnight ago, very few people knew about it!!! The Greens should have been shouting this from the solar-panelled rooftops. They should also have agreed with their government partners a month long health campaign on carbon emissions, on the 1,300 deaths, on dementia, etc BEFORE they talked about calling turf-sellers criminals.
People in Clonea, Cloone, Roundwood, Virginia, Lanesborough are willing to change. They know now that neutering cats is better than drowning kittens. They know that climate change is real and they want to help save the planet. They know some of the stuff Mattie McGrath says is rubbish, but when they hear him in the Dail they agree with many of his sentiments as he's speaking their language.
Rural FF and FG backbenchers are trying to blame the Greens. And sure why not? Some rural 'main party' TDs are more worried about General Election Turf Candidates rising from the bogs than they are about another Green candidate. If the Greens were going well, they'd be thinking of running two candidates in constituencies they already have one. Nowhere is that now being spoken of. The talk is they'll be lucky to hold onto half of what they have. Which is a shame because much of what they have to say is so, so important. And already whispering campaigns have started amongst other parties putting out stories about how Green activists are leaving the party, how they are falling apart, and how some of their TDs are thinking of not running the next time out. This is dirty tactics, this is bogwater politics, but a lot of this is of the Greens own making.
How the turf issue should have been handled
The Greens and the government have advisors who are paid a lot more than me but I'm going to give them some free advice as some will be out of a job after the next election. So here's what they should have done:
- A month long health campaign.
- Identifying all the houses that burn turf and give them grants to transition to cleaner fuel.
- Give priority to a means-based system so lower-income families come first.
- Give those families priority in retrofitting their homes and installing heatpumps.
- Give them a finance scheme over 10 years to spread the costs, low or no interest.
- A timetable for the phasing out of the burning of turf and smoky coal.
I detest Climate Change deniers. Every victory for gombeen politics is a victory for regression. Saving the planet is too important a task to leave it 'just' to the Greens. All the main parties have adopted very progressive policies and we can be world-leaders in how we form and implement our laws.
What the Greens did in the past fortnight has given many Climate Change deniers the chance to say 'I told you so, I warned you they are trying to destroy our way of life, they don't have a clue, the cat is out of the bag'.
The chickens may not have come home to roost yet, but the opposition parties are purring as they get their claws into those who say they know how to make the world a better place but in the estimation of some, don't know how to talk to people who used to drown kittens.
