The Green Party won 12 seats in February’s General Election.
Green Party TD for Dublin West Roderic O’Gorman has said that any programme for government must address a number of problem areas in Irish society, or the Green Party will walk away from negotiations.
It was announced yesterday that the Greens would enter into formal negotiations with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on Thursday of this week to put together a potential programme for government.
O’Gorman says the talks will depend on a number of key issues being addressed, saying: “We are entering into negotiations, there’s nothing given yet.
“If we feel that we’re going to be unable to deliver a programme for government that makes major changes in the area of our carbon emissions, addresses the big problems in Irish society that were identified during the election like the housing crisis, like the provision of health care… if that programme for government isn’t able to deliver those, we will leave those negotiations, we will not put an inadequate programme for government to our members,” he continued.
The idea of putting forward a radical climate action policy was always going to be a huge carrot for the Green Party, particularly given recent public momentum behind the movement.
However, the huge increase in seats for the party is at least in some part due to the “vote left, transfer left” mantra that saw Sinn Féin win the popular vote ahead of the two parties now joining to enter government. Having been wiped out in 2011 as a minor coalition partner, there is a danger of history repeating itself in future elections. O’Gorman says that’s just part of the job: “There’s always that risk. You don’t join the Green Party because you’re looking for a safe seat in a big party.
“But I do think we’ve a responsibility to make that effort, to try and negotiate that programme, and that’s certainly what I’ve been hearing back from people who voted for me over the last number of weeks,” he added.
“People are saying ‘we voted for you to get Green Party policies implemented, go in there and try and get them implemented’.”
You can watch the interview in full below:
"I do think we've a responsibility to make that effort, to try and negotiate that programme."@RodericOGorman, @greenparty_ie TD, spoke to @RobOHanrahan earlier today about the Green Party's decision to enter into formal government programme talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. pic.twitter.com/qCVzfd3GRe
— JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) May 5, 2020
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