Dan Boyle (Green Party)

If we are discussing sustainable economies as a rule, it is not just the nation State but sustainable communities and community economics. Encouraging people at every opportunity to spend their money in their immediate vicinity strengthens local and, ultimately, national economies. We have lost sight of this in recent years in trying to meet consumer desire to find what, on the surface, seems to be the cheapest possible cost at the earliest possible time.

In identifying the nature of the problem there is much to recommend in the Labour Party motion. I disagree, however, with many of its suggested solutions. The idea of establishing a task force in an era when we are questioning the existence of many superfluous public bodies must be rejected.