An Taisce, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, seeks to represent the public interest in protecting Ireland's environment, its outgoing chairman, Prof Frank Convery, tells Frank McDonald, Environment Correspondent
By FRANK MCDONALD
TENSION between conservationists and developers is "inevitable" because "you can't protect assets for posterity against short-term economic gain without annoying somebody", according to Prof Frank Convery, who has just stepped down as chairman of An Taisce.
In an interview with The Irish Times he said the organisation - which has been one of Ireland's premier environmental watchdogs for half a century - "doesn't shirk a fight, but at the same time tries to change policy so that these kinds of fight aren't necessary".
Prof Convery, who is also director of UCD's Environmental Institute, said one of An Taisce's principal roles was to shape national policy on the environment. However, it also had to "take a stand" against developments which would be environmentally damaging.
He defines An Taisce as "a third force representing the public interest in the environment, that part of our existence we share in common". If there is not some organisation looking at that common interest, and attempting to defend it, he believes, it is "just going to get lost".
For example, An Taisce, he says, is the only group with no vested interest which systematically examines draft county development plans and makes detailed submissions on how they could be improved "to promote the public interest, as we would see it".
The planning system would have "a lot more warts if we weren't involved", Prof Convery believes. Similarly, the fact that An Taisce monitors planning applications for developments with a major environmental impact may improve what's put forward".
"Usually, it's a question of preventing the worst from befalling," he conceded. However, he also pointed out that An Taisce was responsible for less than 1 per cent of all appeals to An Bord Pleanala though it had a high "strike record" in this area, with 80 per cent upheld.
"There's continuous criticism that we're a 'self-appointed group stopping development'. But it's a fact that development is booming and the volume of activity everywhere in the country is at an all-time high. We are trying to improve the quality of what is developed."
Prof Convery said tensions had been heightened recently by the danger that an appeal by An Taisce could obstruct developers seeking to meet deadlines for availing of tax incentives in certain designated areas, notably "traditional holiday resorts" such as Clonakilty, Co Cork.
"One of the big weaknesses of this kind of scheme is that there is no mechanism in place to insist that, if taxpayers are going to sub vent developments in these areas, the public interest in terms of their environmental effects should be addressed first," he said.
"The new Minister for the Environment has an interesting idea of eco- auditing' policies to tease out the environmental implications. If this is done properly, it could make a difference, and I will certainly be looking to that as a benchmark of this Government's commitment."
Prof Con very said it was crucial to identify the environmental impacts of different policies and the steps needed to mitigate any negative effects. "This was not done in relation to sheep headage payments; it was something we just wandered into.
Such examples illustrate "quite a weakness in the policy system" in that options are not carefully examined before decisions are made, he believes. "We don't have to drift along just wringing our hands. We have the capacity to act sensibly if it's put to us."
Ireland could also learn from the experiences of other countries, he said. "In Denmark or the Netherlands, for example, they don't need some equivalent of An Taisce shouting about the need to preserve historic buildings, because they already have systems in place.
Although it is not specifically part of the "incredibly weak" environment section of the FF-PD Joint programme, Prof Convery is expecting major progress in the area of architectural conservation and says this, too, would be a measure of An Taisce's policy input in recent years.
"As long as we are fighting individual cases against policies which are moving in a destructive direction, we're just not going to be effective," he said.
Membership has been "stuck at between 5,000 and 6,000" for several years. However, he is "pretty confident" that a new membership drive could bring in an extra 2,000, giving the organisation much-needed additional resources to maintain its policy and campaigning roles.
Both areas suffered as a result of the resignations of Mr John O'Sullivan as national planning officer and Mr David Hickie as environment officer, losses which
Prof Convery feels were inevitable given the relatively poor pay and back-up An Taisce could provide.
He said one of An Taisce's successes had been to "desectarianise the environment, moving away from the notion that "conifers are Catholic and broadleaves Protestant". But he conceded that the organisation has a higher proportion of "blow-ins" than the population as a whole.
However, he defends the role of "blow-ins", saying it has often been the case around the world that they are more concerned to protect the environment - because they recognise its real value - than the natives.
Prof Convery also suggested that the Government might look at the example of England's national parks, where no outsiders are permitted to build new houses. "This means that the market is confined to local people and land prices are less than half of what they are in parts of Ireland."