Sargent ‘will resign’ if he fails to deliver policies
In interviews yesterday, Mr Sargent reiterated his position that he did not wish to lead his party into coalition with Fianna Fáil.
Instead, he wanted to ensure there was a change of government, which — although the party is not forming any pre-election pacts — would mean entering a coalition with Fine Gael and Labour.
Once there, Mr Sargent said if he could not ensure the Green Party’s policies were implemented, he would step down.
“I intend to deliver on both of those,” he said of a change of government and implementation of policies.
“If it is the case that as leader I cannot deliver on both of those, well then, my position is that I step down. After that it’s a matter for another leader,” he told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics.
However, while he ruled out leading the Greens into coalition with Fianna Fáil, he did not rule out serving as a minister in such an arrangement.
Such realpolitik is necessary to ensure the kind of societal and environmental change the Greens are looking for, a former German minister told the party at the weekend.
Co-leader of the German Greens, Renate Kunast, warned delegates that power meant pragmatism, and insisted radicalism and realism had to go hand-in-hand to win the voters trust.
“Eco-rhetoric alone is by no means enough and will not help solve challenges like the climate crisis,” she said.
