The green fight continues for former Waterford mayor
A Mayoral Reception was held at City Hall for Clem Jacob, by then Metropolitan Mayor, Cllr. Jody Power, who said such events were a highlight of his year as Mayor. Photo: Joe Evans
When former Metropolitan Mayor of Waterford City, Jody Power took time out to speak to Waterford News & Star in the wake of him losing his seat in the local elections he was in upbeat, yet relaxed mood.
Speaking on the phone from Spain, where he was taking some time out, he said his support of the green agenda remains undiminished and he plans to not go away in terms of working for the community and being an activist for the environment and people's overall wellbeing.
Asked to reflect on his year as Mayor, Jody said there were many highlights but a couple of things stood out in terms of making his year a very special one from a personal perspective.
"One of the highlights was creating a little bit of history by being the first Green Mayor of the city," he said.
"That was definitely a highlight," he added. Jody said he was hugely honoured to be elected to the position of Mayor and that it was a privilege to serve in the role.
While acknowledging that he felt great pride in serving as Mayor he was also fully aware of the responsibility that came with it. However, he said the thing that gave him the greatest satisfaction throughout the year was acknowledging the contribution other people and groups in the city had made to their communities through Mayoral receptions.
"What I really loved were the Mayoral receptions that I put on, that they really made a difference to people who were outstanding citizens in the year that I had there," he said.
He highlighted how two brothers, the Carey's, received such a reception for giving over 100 years between them to a sports organisation in the city and said that "was quite remarkable".
"The people they would have put through the sporting programme over that period, that is just immeasurable," he said.
"I had about six of them and to honour people like that, well that just made it really," he added.
"The pride and joy that comes with that, even though it's just a small gesture we honour them with, it's great to see the pride people have in the fact they are getting recognised."
Jody lamented the fact that the Mayoral position, while being significantly symbolic, doesn't carry the power to make real change.
"Unfortunately, the way the local Government is set up Mayors have no power as such so while you might wish a lot of things could happen and you might want a lot of things to happen but with no money and no resources, only with a bit of shouting or a bit of cajoling and a bit of persuasion that you can gets things to happen," he said.
"However, anything that takes major money or whatever, that seems to be an impossible thing; that needs somebody at the cabinet table in Government or whatever to be able to fulfill that objective so that was kind of frustrating," he added.
"You always try your best to do as much as you can to make the city the best place it can be for all its citizens," he said.
Jody retired from being a lecturer in marine mechanical engineering in the National Maritime College after becoming Mayor, and commented: "Now, for the first time in my life I don't have anything to get up in the morning to clock in for and do what needs to be done, so for the last while I took some time off in Spain."
"I have some friends in Alacante and I'm here at the moment at the beach and taking in the sun, and just taking some time out and not really thinking about anything," he said.
While losing his seat obviously brought great disappointment, Jody doesn't plan on giving up carrying the baton for the green agenda any time soon.
He said the Green Party in Waterford will be holding a follow-up meeting after the local elections to take stock of where the party is.
"We will look at where we are and to gather things and to live to fight another day," he said.
"The Green Party agenda is certainly not going to go away," he added.
Having worked in various places around the world, Jody said he's comfortable with the idea of retirement from his professional, private working life but from a political perspective he plans to keep working in the community.
"I will certainly continue to be a community activist," he said.
"We have done some lovely work with the Tidy Towns committee in Cheekpoint and Faithlegg and the community spirit out there is amazing," he added.
"They are the type of things I hope to continue working on but obviously the green agenda is immensely important because in general we have to cut back on the use of fossil fuels."
He also hopes that plans to have Waterford the first "neutral city by 2030" is something that comes to fruition.
"That is an honourable and commendable goal to have so what I can do in society to help that I will be glad to do," he said.
"The biggest thing that I am really excited about is the off-shore development of renewable energy," he added. Jody said the wind energy potential off the coast of Waterford is immense and that the first phase of it should be coming online by 2028 or 2029, however, he emphasised that Waterford needs to benefit from that.
"That will bring in an extra €20 million at least to local Government and it would be amazing what we could start to do with that in terms of housing and public transport, along with better road infrastructure," he said.
"When the full development goes off our coast, where we will have about 9 giga watts of power, which would be worth about €80 million and we need to ensure that will be Waterford money," he added.
Jody said the issue of Waterford Airport also needs to be addressed and that every effort needs to be done to maximise it to its full potential.
"I will be shouting about that from the rooftops," he said, while emphasising that modern fuels and advances in technology means the expansion of the airport can still align with green principles.
"There will be new fuels coming onstream in the next four to five years and we have to be ready for that," he said. Another thing he feels Waterford also needs is to be connected to Cork with either a motorway or high speed rail link.
While the Green Party fared out relatively well in the Dublin area he said the challenge ahead from a regional perspective, for the Green Party, will be to push the green agenda even more.
"Waterford is the South East's regional capital and it deserves funding to make it a regional capital," he said.
Whether or not Jody decides to try and regain his seat in the future remains to be seen, however, being sincere and passionate about the environment and the importance of addressing climate change means he's not going to remain silent about the things that matter most.
