Greens 'to target Assembly seats'

The Green Party in the North may target three seats at the next Assembly election.

As the North’s Green Party prepared to formalise its links with the Republic’s party in Belfast today, sources revealed they were considering fielding candidates in North Down, South Down and South Belfast if the North goes to the polls to elect a new Assembly next March.

The Republic’s Green Party leader Trevor Sargent will today formalise the links with the Northern party by making it a regional council of his own party.

The Green Party in the North has also forged ties with its counterparts in Scotland, England and Wales.

A Northern Green spokesman said: “What we are doing is following the logic of the Good Friday Agreement and are building relationships and formal ties within these islands.

“Today marks the completion of two years work in bringing us closer with our counterparts in the Irish Republic but we also have memoranda of understandings with our sister parties in Scotland and in England and Wales.

“By building these relatinships, we will be able to tap into the expertise of our sister parties when we head into the next Assembly election and also as a regional executive of the Irish Green Party be able to draw on resources.”

It is understood the party in the North, which captured three seats in last year's local-government elections, could field two of its councillors at the next Stormont poll.

Brian Wilson is tipped to be the Green candidate in North Down and Ciarán Muffen is expected to run in South Down.

The party is also looking at south Belfast, where it would hope to capture a youth vote.

At its annual general meeting on Saturday, Green Party members in the North also backed a resolution that would see any of their candidates elected to the Assembly able to make their own choices as to whether or not they should designate themselves at Stormont as a unionist, a nationalist or a cross-community MLA.