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By Mannix Flynn There has been criticism of Aosdána since its inception. Most of it is trivia and resentment, ill-informed and personalised. I’m very proud to be a member. I’m entirely supportive of the idea of Aosdána. I have absolute respect for all members and their work and most importantly I am very grateful to taxpayers for the money that is well spent on Aosdána members’ activities. Without this money it would not be possible for me and many other artists to make our work and subsist. So: long live Aosdána. However, there are certain issues for members to seriously consider. The Cathal Ó Searcaigh controversy, for example, was badly handled and mismanaged by the ten-member Toscaireacht which sets the agenda for Aosdána. We cannot ignore transparency and accountability. The title of Saoi (‘wise one’) is the highest honour that the 250-odd members of Aosdána can bestow upon a fellow member. No more than seven living members can be so honoured at one time. The honour is conferred by the President of Ireland in a ceremony during which a gold torc is placed around the neck of the recipient. Seóirse Bodley, Brian Friel, Camille Souter and Anthony Cronin currently hold the title. Edna O’Brien, William Trevor and Imogen Stuart recently got the nod, with Stuart awaiting ratification. Currently, if a position is vacant for one of the Saoi, all it needs is for certain insiders in Aosdána to get together 15 members to put a name forward to guarantee the elevation. A number of individuals can, and often do, conspire to get the first nomination in before anybody else realises what’s actually going on. We are not, as members, informed that there is a vacancy or given the opportunity to present a candidate of our choice. The danger is that a kind of belligerence and cultural dictatorship will undermine Aosdána. Its decline and possible downfall will be by its own hand. Aosdána had to consider a clear and unambiguous motion about its electoral process presented by me to the annual general meeting in March 2015: “That this assembly of Aosdána agrees to change the existing nomination procedures for election of Saoi to the more participatory and inclusive process whereby all members are contacted by the registrar and asked to put forward their chosen nomination in writing. Each nomination must be made, in writing, by fifteen members. The names of candidates whose nominations have been made according to the rule would be put to a ballot of the membership and the candidate with the highest number of votes be deemed elected”. But again the members of Aosdána, given the chance to be democratic, accountable and progressive, buried their heads in the sand. The motion fell. What is it that turns artists into fearful cowards who abstain from right choices at the slightest whim where there is any risk of discomfiture? Something strange happens to them when they sit in assembly or become parts of institutions. They become ultra-conservative, indifferent, even snobbish. The present members of the Toscaireacht and indeed its Chairperson know that the process now used for the election of Saoithe is dangerously flawed and subversive of due process and equal opportunity. At this year’s general assembly, long-time member Theo Dorgan argued against the motion, saying that it was an honorary position which shouldn’t be tarnished by being in any way competitive. The problem is that the present guidelines in Aosdána are silent on the method of election. Certain members suggested that I compromise the motion by agreeing that there would be an announcement or a call for nominations for Saoi but I wasn’t going to water down the principle of the motion. If Aosdána is to be anything, it needs to be embracing and courageous, even daring; it needs to grow up and practise what it preaches, to realign its vision and make itself more relevant to the Ireland of today in all its forms and manifestations. Aosdána is in grave danger of becoming as closed as any of our institutions when it needs to go in the opposite direction. It should never be slow to change any of its processes that need to be changed. I want to see Aosdána a confident assembly of artists at the height of their maturity and process, sharing their vision, work and company with fellow artists and society. Aosdána in practice has always tried to distance itself from the issues and politics of the day. It has always refrained from challenging Government and indeed the Arts Council and arts institutions. It is time now for Presidentially-endorsed Aosdána to justify itself. To challenge itself on its fitness for purpose, on whether it has advanced the ideas of its inspirational founders or instead become a closed clique of status-anxious artists. I will continue to pursue progress rather than perfection within Aosdána. And I will always choose criticism first, over fake comradery and solidarity. I will not be voting for any nominee for Saoi until the present undemocratic process is righted. • Mannix Flynn is an artist and member of Aosdána in addition to being a Dublin City Councillor

By Donna Mullen I’ve recently joined a running group, and think a lot about air pollution as I gasp my way around Bailieboro, Co Cavan. Having trained as a cardiac technician (many years ago) I worked in the Mater Hospital in Dublin when Mary Harney first brought in the smoky-coal ban, and the effect – the ambulances stopped arriving. Immediately. Deaths from heart disease dropped by 15%, deaths from respiratory disease dropped by 10% and all other deaths (except those by trauma) dropped by 7%. In fact, according to an article by Luke Clancy et al in the Lancet, 357 lives have been saved in Dublin every year since the smoky coal ban came into force. One in three of us will have a heart attack. Indeed this accounts for my sudden interest in fitness as I hit my fiftieth birthday. One in three of us will get cancer. So a drop in mortality of up to 15% from these illnesses is very significant. And the benefit of the smoky coal ban in monetary terms was €20 million, according to the Department of the Environment. But what if you don’t live in Dublin? Are rural lungs as important as urban lungs? Phil Hogan extended the ban on smoky coal to any town with a population of over 50,000, thus saving the lives of many more Irish people. But I never thanked him. Because the problem with environmental pollution is that it goes unnoticed – killing us softly. A report from the World Health Organisation confirmed 7 million people died in 2012 from air pollution. They stated that air pollution is the single But as I puff and wheeze my way around Bailieboro, the things which scare me are dark alleyways, creepy strangers, and a whole mass of other harmless objects. In reality the danger lies in the smoky air I’m breathing and the water (taken from a well) which I carry in my water bottle. But I don’t notice the environmental dangers. Constitutional protection of our right to clean air, water and protection of our biodiversity would give visibility to our environment – it would give the environment the status it deserves. Our constitution is not just a legal document, it is a philosophical document. It sets out our vision, our ‘ten commandments’ for our country – the things we hold precious. And it shows that our priorities were skewed. Property has been protected in our constitution for many years, but our children have only recently received Constitutional protection – and the environment? It’s not mentioned at all. To enforce environmental protection we frequently have to take environmental cases to the European courts. This is a long, slow process, which generally results in damage to Ireland’s reputation and subsequent fines. The Irish taxpayer could spend this money in more productive ways. Constitutional protection, along the lines long-since enshrined in South Africa for example, would allow us to sort out environmental problems in our own backyard. But meanwhile our health goes downhill. A study aptly called ‘Every Breath You Take’ showed that 97% of European citizens are exposed to ground ozone levels above those deemed safe by the World Health Organisation. It’s enough to make you gasp. And a recent study of 345,143 Dutch patients by Joanda Maas et al showed that deaths from depression and anxiety decreased significantly if you lived within 1km of a quality green space. This was especially important for children and those living in low socio-economic groups So even if we don’t concern ourselves with the intrinsic rights of nature, and we would just like to live a few years longer, it makes sense to give the environment our strongest legal protection – constitutional. We need to demand our right to clean air, water and biodiversity, constitutionally. We must lobby as if our lives depended on it – because they do! Our politicians are currently writing their election manifestos, and problems with the healthcare budget, access to mental health services, Accident and Emergency Depts. and waiting lists are issues which concern us all. But wouldn’t it be better not to get sick in the first place? Clean air, water and biological diversity are key to our health, both physical and mental. Small towns in Ireland still don’t have a smoky coal ban. As I jog through the smog in Bailieboro I think about smoky coal, our Constitution and even Phil Hogan. We can continue to introduce piecemeal environmental legislation. It’s better than nothing – but it is fiddling while Rome (or Bailieboro) burns. Constitutional environmental protection is required. Or we can sit idly by and watch while our environment goes up in smoke. •

By Sinéad Pentony The rights of women have improved greatly, but the goal of full equality remains a work in progress. Addressing the gender inequality challenges that remain is more difficult than previously, because fundamental change is required in economic policy-making and planning. We have to identify ways of incorporating a focus on equality into economic decision-making processes. Equality budgeting can help to achieve this. This approach has developed out of a growing understanding that fiscal (tax and subsidy) policy can make a significant contribution to narrowing or widening gender gaps in areas such as income, health and education. Fiscal policy can be a powerful tool for improving and equalising the living standards and opportunities of women and men. Equality budgeting assesses the impact public expenditure and taxation has on certain sectors of society. It identifies who benefits from economic policy measures and who doesn’t. It ensures that equality is integrated as a driving principle in the planning, design, implementation and review of economic policy measures. It increases transparency in budgetary processes and economic decision-making. We know, for example, that the lack of high-quality, affordable childcare is a major barrier to employment for many women. Therefore, a policy aimed at increasing our investment in publicly-funded childcare and early-years education from the current level of 0.4% GDP annually to the OECD average of 0.7% GDP is likely to make it through an equality budgeting process. However, it’s important to add that political will is also required for policy priorities to receive Cabinet approval. Adequate public investment in childcare and early-years education has yet to make it through the current system of deciding budgetary priorities. This is because the current system tends to ignore the different socially-determined roles and responsibilities of men and women. It overlooks the different impacts that policies have on men and women as a result of these roles. The Equality Budgeting Campaign’s report, ‘Incorporating Equality Budgeting into Ireland’s New Budgetary Process’ states that “the objective of equality budgeting lies in ensuring this (type of) information is used to reduce inequalities and to achieve the best equality outcomes for specific disadvantaged groups, but also for society at large”. Equality budgeting opens up our economic growth strategy to a different kind of scrutiny. This goes beyond ‘value for money’ or ‘cost-benefit analysis’. Both of these perspectives are important for assessing economic efficiency, but they are lacking for assessing impact on economic equality. Scotland has established an independent budgetary advisory group, the Equality and Budget Advisory Group (EBAG), for this purpose. This is made up of government and civil-society actors, including the Women’s Budget Group, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Scottish Government Finance Directorate, and the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser. The advisory group works with the Scottish Government to: provide advice and support for the mainstreaming of equality in policy with the appropriate allocation of resources; contribute to mapping the pathway between evidence, policy and spend; improve the presentation of equality information in the Scottish budget documents; and contribute to improved commitment to, and awareness, of mainstreaming equality into policy and budget processes. The Scottish budgetary process involves the publication of a draft budget, which allows for public consultation and debate on the particulars of the budget before it is finalised. This approach is in marked contrast to the Irish budgetary process which involves no public consultation on draft measures and where there is endless ‘kite flying’ in the weeks leading up to the budget announcements. The Scottish parliament publishes an equality statement alongside the draft budget clearly outlining the equality implications of the budget. The statement is arranged under the key themes of the budget, such as health and wellbeing, culture, external affairs, finance, employment and sustainable growth. The Equality Budgeting Campaign’s report draws on the Scottish experience in setting out the steps required to introduce an Equality Budgeting process in Ireland. Equality Budgeting is good for women and for equality, but it is also good for the economy. The contribution of gender equality to economic development is often overlooked, and measures aimed at promoting gender equality are often framed as socially worthwhile, yet potentially expensive. Equality budgeting can be used to demonstrate the promotion of gender equality as an economically productive investment. This gain is demonstrably achieved through: quantitative improvements in women’s labour market participation; improvements in the effective use of  investment in human capital; women’s contribution to growth through greater economic independence; women’s contribution as consumers of goods and services; the integration of women into the fiscal system as net contributors to the welfare state; and the establishment of a sustainable system of social reproduction that is essential for economic growth, future labour supply and sustainable public finances. However, while it is important to make an economic case for gender equality, it is also important not to ignore the moral or social dimension to equality. This still transcends as an imperative justification. Gender equality has many non-economic benefits including reductions in child poverty and enhanced personal freedom. Gender equality is about human worth and the type of society we aspire to. The National Women’s Strategy 2007– 2016 is the key policy document in relation to the advancement of women in Irish society across all facets of the economy and society. The Strategy is structured around 3 themes in the areas of equalising socio-economic opportunities for women; ensuring well-being of women; and engaging women as equal and active citizens. Within these themes there are 20 key objectives and over 200 planned actions, some of which have been implemented over the last nine years. The current Strategy comes to an end next year and a consultation on a new National Women’s Strategy is due to get underway in 2015. Last year, the mid-term review of the National Women’s Strategy was published and it concluded that the strategy remains relevant to the current economic and social climates. The review notes that the reduction of funding for positive actions and for some other services presents a challenge.