The Ban Bus

Friday morning brought our first meeting with Irish Foreign Affairs. Many Irish NGOs and the CMC coordinator Thomas Nash were all there to have a round table with the government representatives. Simon Conway who will be the NGO conference event coordinator was also there and he laid out what had been planed so far and what still needed to be done. I gave an overview on the Ban Bus idea and preparation. The Irish government representative, Alison Kelly, openly discussed the plans of Ireland as the host nation.

When this whole process began it was the Norwegians who led the way. In doing this they formed a coalition of core group countries who seriously wanted to see a strong ban happen. Ireland is one of these strong core countries and her brief was open and had one point, to get the strongest treaty possible. It’s impressive to see a government operate like this. They don’t talk about exceptions and reservations or keeping a few loopholes, they just talk plain and straight. There is a lesson Australia could learn a lot from.

Our little “studio apartment” was starting to wear a little thin as it was so small and so far out, at least a 45 minute bike ride from the centre each way. Nice on a good day but one thing to remember about Ireland is it rains. In fact it rains and rains and rains some more and pedalling out each night in the cold, dark and wet was by no means fun. Thomas said to us after the Foreign Ministry meeting that he would need a flat in a week and if we found one then we could use it till he came. There was some motivation and by the end of that day we had another place to stay with some space to work and centrally located. We moved in.

We were now on the edge of town and the river flowed past the front door. A magnificent aroma wafted across the water as I realised we were across the river from the Guinness brewery! I was in heaven!!!!

The venue that the treaty meeting will take place in is called Croke Park and its Irelands biggest football stadium. It’s also the countries largest conference space so it’s the government’s only option. The interesting thing about it is it’s in the roughest neighbourhood in Dublin. I have visions of deliberations breaking up each day and the diplomats getting mugged by the local drug dealers as the leave each evening. Mette and me rode our bikes through the middle of it last week and were conscious that we were trespassing on someone’s “turf”.

There is a wonderful phenomenon there, the pyjama boozer. It’s really quite the female fashion statement. Never in my life have I seen women at the pub in their pyjamas in the early afternoon. In fact, I’ve never seen women in their pyjamas in a pub ever and I’d include supermarkets and sporting events as well in that. That being said it is a statement worth making and a style unique to Summer Hill. The area of Summer Hill sits between Croke Park and the city and is an area divided between rivalled gangs. The violence there is not imagined but very real and as we get to know the city more, we hear tales of some of the thuggish crime as well as serious underworld goings on. All irrelevant to me but worth knowing about as no interest in treading on any of these jokers toes. Just stay clear of the rough stuff and get on with our job.

In Wellington we spoke with many about doing an Irish Ban Bus and many were keen to see it happen. As usual, the problem is to fund, then execute it. Our old mate Rae McGrath put his hand up to track down a budget and we then got busy. The clock was ticking and time was certainly of the essence. With only a few weeks to go we have flown to Dublin and want to get the word to the masses as fast and far as possible. When it comes to NGO’s trying to organise something like this it’s a case of the few doing the impossible with very little except a huge amount of commitment. We had two friends already in Dublin operating out of a tiny room in the back of a church trying to pull logistics together. No power dressing or flash offices here but a great deal more productivity is what separates us from governments.

Susan and Tony were flat out working late into every night doing what ever it took to get civil society a good presence at the upcoming conference. One look told us not to try and lump more work on their shoulders. The first thing we did need was a set of wheels and a place to stay. Mette trawled the web and found a “Cosy studio apartment” a little way out of town. It had the perfect credentials as it was dirt cheap. We took it.

The taxi finally found the address and we met the old lady landlord. It was a nice suburban house in a quiet neighbourhood and the gable looked like the location of our new abode. This was not to be as our eyes were cast to the garage and the door was opened. It was a converted single car garage that was transformed to a granny flat. Well, it’s definitely cosy. Beggars can’t be choosers so that was going to be it for now. We moved in. To be able to move we packed everything vertically so as to get around the bed. There were two really oversized arm chairs at the foot of the bed which basically took up the rest of the space except for the TV that didn’t seem to work. Going out the back past the bed was a tiny shower um, toilet then kitchenish kind of thing. None of this mattered as it’s off the street and a place to sleep.

The next morning we began walking towards Dublin centre. Not really knowing where that was we got a few directions, found the docks, turned right and kept on going. When we finally got nearer the town we grabbed a cab and crossed the river to see Susan and Tony. With the money we did have we needed to set up. Transport and communications were next on the list so we door knocked all the bike shops we could find to get a pair of second hand bikes then a pair of cheap Irish mobile phones and some internet access. We were now fit to take on the world. Rae was working hard to finalise funding so I backed all costs on my credit card. This was a very scary prospect for me but you have to trust people in this world and I trusted Rae to come through with a budget and get everything sorted out. Our main concern now was not to lose time waiting. We had to spend and set up as fast as possible.

It’s magic what can be achieved with a mobile and a bit of the web. Piece by piece we started locking down and ticking off all we would need to do a good Ban Bus. Rent a van, get signage, design brochures, design T-shirts, find printers and start to line up places to talk to. The bikes were great and we sped from one side of Dublin to the next amongst some of Europe’s worst traffic jams with a massive road toll on cyclists and pedestrians. The logistics were almost complete and Rae would also be over in a few days. The money problem was being solved and we could now look for a second flat as more people would be rolling in and we would have no trouble finding bodies for beds.