'Don't take us for granted': Greens

The Green Party’s participation in a future coalition government should not be taken for granted, party leader Trevor Sargent insisted today.

The Dublin North TD reminded Fine Gael and the Labour Party that the Greens had not yet committed themselves to taking part in a rainbow coalition.

He also spelt out some of the policy areas which would determine whether his party would serve in a government.

Mr Sargent said: “We are a couple of years away to the next general election and there has been a certain amount of presumption about the make-up of the next government.

“We are not making those presumptions. The experience of Greens around the world show us there are a number of options open to us. Yes, we could go into government but there are other options which could see us giving conditional support to a government on the basis of their policies.

“That is a route that has been taken by the Greens in Sweden whereas in Germany they have gone into government. Ultimately, as the German Greens have proven, you do not go into government for the sake of going into government. You go into government on the basis of 10 to 15 policy objectives.”

The Green scurrently have six TDs.

Mr Sargent said if his party were to go into government, it would require a radical shift in thinking from traditional left-right politics.

The Dublin North TD said: “If you are asking us what our core demands would be, then I suppose they would entail a rights-based approach to service delivery in health and education.

“We would also want significant consumer protection from the rip-off merchants who are jeopardising health and environmental standards and exploiting poorer people around the globe.

“The party also believes there has to be a strategy to guarantee our future economic security by substituting our dependence on imported fossil fuels with indigenous renewable energy supplies.

“This country is more dependent than any other European Union member state on fossil fuels when we could be exporting energy from our own renewable sources.

Mr Sargent also insisted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tanaiste Mary Harney’s government had become arrogant.

“I really do think this Government is incapable of rehabilitating itself because it has been in power for so long,” the Green Party leader continued.

“Without consultation and in quite a cynical way, the Government wants to locate departmental headquarters outside of Dublin in ministers’ constituencies, so ministers can boast about their own clout.

“The Government’s own focus groups are also telling them about the crisis in our health system but they seem incapable of doing anything about it.

“Even though a lot of money is being spent, it is proving hard to undo all the years of neglect in our health system. To be perfectly frank, this government needs to spend time in opposition.”