New coalition - The Green machine is on a rocky road
Having got into bed with a party renowned for stroke-pulling, and a brand of arrogance bred of long years in power, Environment Minister John Gormley was wrong-footed before he could blink.
No wonder the Greens were incensed at the last minute move by outgoing Minister Dick Roche to sign an order for the “preservation by record” of the recently discovered prehistoric henge at Lismullin, Co Meath, on the route of the planned M3 motorway.
In other words, Mr Roche has effectively ordered the historic site to be destroyed once the investigation is carried out. Citing the director of the National Museum as his authority for taking this course of action, the ex-minister had the temerity to suggest he was doing his successor a favour by not passing the buck on such a difficult issue.
Controversially, the road goes through the heart of the Tara Skryne Valley, one of Ireland’s richest archeological centres and described by Green protesters as the most endangered landscape in the world.
Contrary to opposition claims that he could rescind the order, Mr Gormley indicated yesterday that he cannot reverse the Roche decision allowing the M3 motorway to be built over the archaeological site near Tara.
This is unlikely to assuage the growing anger among the Greens over the Tara affair. If the decision stands, work on the Lismullen stretch of the M3 will resume after the archaeological work is complete. Meanwhile, construction work on other parts of the motorway will continue as normal.
Many a politician would be relieved to see the back of this poisoned chalice. After reviewing the documentation and talking with the museum director, Mr Gormley should make public whatever advice his predecessor received to convince him that “preservation by record” was the way go in this case.
Hot on the heels of the Tara controversy, other issues likely to embarrass the Greens are already looming on the West of Ireland skyline.
When the Galway Races start in Ballybrit, at the end of July and the first week in August, the party will again come under the spotlight when Fianna Fáil’s famed tent reopens for business.
The sight of rich and powerful businessmen and property developers rubbing shoulders with the Soldiers of Destiny will re-focus media attention on the corporate financing for political parties — a practice so strongly opposed by the Greens they made it a major plank of their election manifesto. The cartoonists will have a field day.
Another political hot potato facing the party concerns the ongoing row over the development of the Shell gas field off the Mayo coast, not to mention the controversial route of the onshore pipeline. Internal conflict is bound to flare within the party when Green ministers have to toe the coalition line and give the Shell project their backing.
Furthermore, if the problems surrounding water contamination in Galway, where people have to buy bottled supplies, are repeated elsewhere in the country, the newly-appointed ministers can expect to come under intense public pressure on yet another Green issue.
In the final analysis, perhaps the most worrying aspect of the programme for Government, as far as the Greens are concerned, is the fact that much will have to be taken on trust in their dealings with Fianna Fáil.
As Labour leader Pat Rabbitte succinctly put it, the word ‘review’ appeared in the 90-page, agreed document no less than 56 times; the term ‘examine’ 23 times and the word ‘consider’ 14 times.
That speaks volumes.
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