Ryan: Climate crisis 'a red line' for Green party to enter talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael

The Green Party has said it will hold Government formation talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil if they can address three key issues.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis "is a red line" for his party to enter formal coalition negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said it would require setting "a scale and level of ambition" to cut back on pollution levels and doing that in a way that delivers the "just transition".

"So in terms of that broad biggest project that we think needs to be taken on, is absolutely a broad red line," he said.

On Thursday the Green Party set out 17 commitments it is seeking from the two parties before taking part in talks.

Mr Ryan said clarity is required to know the next government is going to change Ireland towards a "greener" country and that scientific advice is heeded.

Separate to tackling climate change, he said, the two other main aims would be the development of public housing and conversion to a public universal health system.

The Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil document was "aspirational", but that was not a bad thing as it sets out a broad outline, he said.

Mr Ryan said for any parties going into government, it takes a couple of weeks to go through the full range of issues.

"If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are going to shift the nature of the economy towards public housing and public health they would need to be specific about how they are going to do that. "

Mr Ryan said rather than invest heavily in new road projects, he was calling for more investment in infrastructure for cycling and walking.

In the current crisis more people are working from home and some of that should be continued when the country returns to normal, as it would alleviate some of the congestion on our roads, he added.

Mr Ryan also said he was confident any new government would follow through on the Climate Action plan.

"I would expect any new government to introduce that within the first 100 days. I take that as a given and I think the other parties have agreed that. I don't see any problem introducing that. The question is what is the scale of ambition of change."

However, a former environment minister claims one of the Green Party's key demands for Government will be 'impossible to achieve'.

Independent Denis Naughten is the convenor of the Regional Group of TDs, which had talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael this week.

He welcomed the Green Party setting out its stall for Government yesterday - but is highly critical of some of its environmental policies.

"The target that is being set of a 7% annual reduction in carbon emissions is going to be virtually impossible to achieve," he said.

"I think it can only get carbon reductions in large incremental steps.

"The last thing we need to see is a cull in the national herd."