Gormley and Greens need to force real change or face political meltdown

THE coming few weeks could be very interesting politically. John Gormley has said that the Green Party will withdraw from government if the party’s rank and file do not approve a new programme for government by a two-thirds majority. That could prove particularly problematical, but then maybe he can secure some astonishing concessions from Fianna Fáil in the current circumstances.

Fianna Fáil did make some advances in the last public opinion poll, but the party was still in third place, behind Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The improvement was probably due to the polished performance by Brian Lenihan in dealing with issues relating to the NAMA, especially on the Pat Kenny’s inaugural Front Line programme.

But this was followed by mind-blowing performances of stunning incompetence by a number of ministers trying to defend the golden handshake given Rody Molloy as he was enticed to step down as director general of FÁS. This thing had been simmering for over a year. In September 2008 Tánaiste Mary Coughlan asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate expenditures at FÁS over the previous eight years.