Gormley ‘expected bailout’

GREEN leader John Gormley admitted he expected an IMF intervention from last summer — but kept quiet about it.

The former environment minister said he raised the issue in Cabinet but was repeatedly told by the then Taoiseach that the country was fully funded until June 2011.

Despite the assurances, Mr Gormley said he still believed the IMF would intervene at the beginning of 2011.

The crisis actually occurred last November, when Mr Gormley said he was still receiving assurances from Brian Cowen it would not happen.

“We were constantly told that while some sort of talks were taking place — they (the IMF) were in looking at the books — there was no decision taken,” he told RTÉ.

The revelation is likely to add to the widespread impression the Greens were often kept “out of the loop” in their troubled coalition with Fianna Fáil.

Mr Gormley said he did not go public with his fears in case it had a detrimental impact on the economy.

The Green Party meets in conference for the first time today since its humiliating general election defeat.

All six Green TDs lost their seats in the Dáil wipe-out, and Mr Gormley will stand down as leader following the disaster.

However, he insists he may run for the Dáil again, and says the Greens will make a comeback at the next election.

“It has been unfortunate what has happened, but we will re-emerge — if you look at the history of Green parties they have had huge electoral set backs and they have re-emerged,” he said.