Greens did ‘not scupper’ alternative government
The party voted overwhelmingly not to enter a pre-election pact at its annual convention in Cork at the weekend because it wants to maximise the number of seats it can win in the next general election and not compromise its policies.
Mr Sargent said he was not stunned at the overwhelming vote against a pre-election pact because there was a huge reluctance within the party to enter one.
Asked if this had not scuppered the chances of a viable alternative Government emerging, Mr Sargent said: “No, we are saying we want to go into Government and we mean business - we have clarity for the electorate and they will decide the number of seats we get.”
The Green Party leader said they were serious about throwing this Government out of office and would talk to the other parties about providing a radical and genuine, caring alternative after the election.
Labour will decide in two weeks if it will enter a pre-election pact with Fine Gael at its annual conference in Tralee. A Labour spokesman said yesterday that he did not believe the Green Party decision would damage the chances of an alternative Government emerging.
“The Greens do not want to have anything to do with Fianna Fáil and are open to negotiations with Opposition parties after the next election,” he said.
In his keynote address to delegates at the weekend, Mr Sargent said the Greens have learnt a lot from the experience of their colleagues in 15 other countries where they have been in coalition governments.
Former Finnish Green Party Environment Minister Pekka Haavisto gave the convention an outline of his experience in Government and said they need to present a specific number of positive changes.
Mr Sargent said the Green Party must broaden its appeal, moving from being labelled “an environmental party” to being a party of creative and practical solutions to Ireland’s problems.
“Our business must be in affecting what goes into the Finance Bill, what goes into our classrooms, how we look after our children, how we treat people in our prisons, how we build up the sustainability of every enterprise in this country,” Mr Sargent said.
He launched a scathing attack on the Government claiming it is a regime of “chancers” corrupted by power and its legacy will be one of incompetence, corruption, neglect and squander.
“The reality is that they have misspent the profits from our boom and are too long in power to even see the extent of their extravagant waste.”
But Environment Minister Dick Roche said Mr Sargent’s bid to portray his party as a friend of business and enterprise is “bizarre.”
Mr Roche said the Greens’ response to the M3 motorway is dishonest and demonstrates their anti-business bias and the Green tax policy is also anti-business.
Meanwhile, a motion calling on the Green Parry not to enter Government unless military stop-overs at Shannon were halted, failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority.
