Greens dispute Sargent’s dismissal of FF agreement

SENIOR Green Party members this weekend expressed divergent views from leader Trevor Sargent’s outright dismissal of any possible post-electoral agreement with Fianna Fáil.

Dun Laoghaire TD Ciarán Cuffe said that the party should not close off any deals in advance while Cork councillor Chris O’Leary said by ruling one possibility out, the party was sending out wrong signals. Both were speaking on RTE Radio’s ‘This Week’.

However, the party’s finance spokesman Dan Boyle echoed his leader’s dismissal of Dermot Ahern’s comment in the Irish Examiner that Fianna Fáil could do business with the Green Party, saying it indicated a desperation seeping in.

However, Mr Boyle added that he did not want the party to become involved at this stage in a “game of musical chairs” revolving around possible permutations for Government.

Cllr O’Leary, a candidate in Cork North Central, said: “If you are going to rule out one, you are leaving a door open that you are willing to go into Government with what’s left. That’s a wrong signal to send out.”

He said the 2005 convention sent out a strong mandate that the Greens would be standing as an independent party in the election.

Mr Cuffe said: “The last thing we want is to be in government with one group, or not be in government.”