More support next time say Greens

The Green Party tonight called on voters to give it a strong mandate to enter government for the first time after the next general election.

Rallying delegates at his annual convention in Cork, Ireland, leader Trevor Sargent vowed that Greens could deliver a viable alternative to the electorate.

In a ’Greens Mean Business’ themed speech he said: “The more seats we gain, the more we will be able to implement changes and address the concerns of local communities throughout this country.

“The Green Party is serious about the business of throwing this government out of office and working with other parties to provide a business-like and genuinely caring alternative government.”

The Dublin North TD, party leader since 2001, pointed out that ’Green Government’ would be practical and pro-business.

“The message must go out from this convention loud and clear that the Greens will also be good for business in any new government we form.”

The Green future will be positive and enterprising. We are not content anymore to snipe from the sidelines,” he added.

“Our policies prove that social justice, environmental protection and economic development are all holistically and fundamentally interlinked.”

However he threatened possible coalition partners, Fine Gael and Labour that he would “walk away” from an alternative government if they didn’t appreciate “the need for real change“.

Since he first embraced Green politics as a young teacher in West Cork in 1982, Mr Sargent said the movement had revolutionised how politicians and society viewed the environment.

He recalled that many of the party’s ideas were ridiculed at first but were later seen practical.

He said Greens first proposed glass recycling, plastic bag levies on plastic bags and harnessing wind power energy.

Mr Sargent used his speech to launch a stinging attack on the Fianna Fail-led coalition’s “legacy of incompetence, corruption, neglect and squander.”

He said their lust for power taught them not to rock the boat but instead “quickly commission a report or inquiry to bury the issue, hoping that the public will forget.”

He highlighted the Coalition’s broken promises on hospital beds, schools and cutting taxes.

“They will sell the wild Irish salmon into extinction for the sake of one marginal seat,” he added.

He described Fianna Fail as “chancers who do their business in builders’ tents at the Galway races“.

He said the Progressive Democrats were elected to keep an eye on Fianna Fail but they have “morphed back into the same old mould from which they broke away.”

On the EU Constitution, Mr Sargent reiterated that the party will take a decision at a special convention in June after holding regional seminars.

Quoting Nobel physicist Albert Einstein and Cork-born Gaelic poet Sean O Riordan in his address, the party leader rallied his five TDs and 29 councillors to prepare now for the next general election.