Greens are determined to make a mark

ECO-FRIENDLY light bulbs are going out all over Ireland as the great Green glow predicted for this campaign begins to flicker.

A clear trend has emerged in the opinion polls showing Trevor Sargent’s environmentally minded forces heading south.

Hopes of returning to the Dáil with a Green contingent in double digits seem wide of the mark, despite the feeling this was going to be the party’s breakthrough moment when they stepped up from the sidelines and into Government.

So what’s been going wrong? Things got off to a wobbly start when Mr Sargent failed to make it back to the capital in time to launch its campaign because he was caught on the hop by the Taoiseach’s drive across the park in the dark to get the President to dissolve the Dáil at dawn.

The Green leader refused to break his principles and catch a domestic flight to Dublin from Galway. Which was all very laudable, but may also have looked just a tad puritanical for some swing voters.

Potential supporters may also be being put off by the conflicting signals coming from the Greens over just who they intend to go into Government with.

You may well be voting Green to get Bertie back, or going Green for a Rainbow — it is anyone’s guess at the moment. What is clear is that the party wants power and is prepared to go into talks with anyone, except everybody’s whipping boys Sinn Féin.

Again, Mr Sargent was particularly confusing when he grandly announced he would not lead his party into coalition with developer-devoted Fianna Fáil, but he would like Mr Ahern to make him a minister in such a set-up, thank you very much.

Add to the mix the fact that the Greens are the Louis Vuitton of Irish politics — all the other parties are bringing out cheaper imitations of their goods — and you have a dangerous case of brand contamination.

A comment like Mr Sargent’s that: “This country, and indeed future life on Earth, depends on us succeeding as Green Party candidates” could also be seen as overstating one’s own importance in the minds of the electorate.

However, the Greens will make gains on May 24 and a non-FF Government would seem virtually impossible without them.

Meanwhile, the Shinners are quietly getting on with what they are good at — appealing to those who feel left behind by the boom and seeing their poll numbers nudge-up despite many political commentators insisting they had peaked too early for this Dáil campaign.

It would seem republican green rather than environmental green must have colour among backers of the smaller parties