Sargent keeps promise with resignation

TREVOR SARGENT last night dramatically announced his resignation as Green Party leader.

In doing so, he is fulfilling a promise not to lead the party into coalition with Fianna Fáil.

But the Greens will still form a Government with Fianna Fáil after members voted in favour of the arrangement last night.

It is understood Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was fully aware of Mr Sargent’s intention to step down as leader, and that the two men had included this eventuality in their deliberations on Government formation earlier this week.

Mr Sargent will remain as acting leader until his successor is chosen.

He made his announcement following the Greens’ special conference in Dublin’s Mansion House last night.

It came shortly after members had voted to support the deal the Green negotiating team had agreed with Fianna Fáil.

Mr Sargent had earlier made it clear he supported the deal, but while the members cleared the way for the Greens to enter Government, he clearly decided he could not go back on his long-standing promise to step down rather than lead the party into the coalition. Since being appointed party leader in October 2001, Mr Sargent had made no secret of his disdain for Fianna Fáil.

Over the past couple of years, in particular, he has vehemently criticised both the party and the Taoiseach.

In the Dáil in February 2006, Mr Sargent described Fianna Fáil as “a haven for aspiring wide boys”.

In August 2006, he said he regarded Fianna Fáil “essentially as an agency for very powerful vested interests”.

As recently as last month, when discussing the questions raised over the Taoiseach’s personal finances, he launched a scathing attack on Mr Ahern.

Mr Sargent described Mr Ahern as a political “dead man walking”, saying he could not see any party “accepting the moral authority which is expected of a Taoiseach with Bertie Ahern in that office”.

Mr Sargent had already repeatedly made it clear he would not lead the Greens into Government with Fianna Fáil, citing the party’s “culture of bad planning, corruption and bad standards”. “I won’t be leading the Green Party into coalition with Fianna Fáil,” he said on one such occasion.

But last November, he refused to rule out serving as a minister in such a coalition, saying, “That would be for the leader at the time to decide”, adding that he would do whatever was in the country’s “best interests”.

It appears Mr Sargent will accept a junior ministry. The Greens are understood to have secured two senior ministries and two junior ministries in return for entering the coalition.

In accordance with the Green Party constitution, an election must be held to determine the new leader. The election will consist of a national ballot of party members.