THERE HAVE been initial contacts between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party on a new programme for government with a view to having it completed by early September.
Negotiations on drawing up the new programme are expected to start by Monday, August 31st, based on a short timetable that could see all negotiations completed quickly, possibly within a week or 10 days.
The new programme could be put to a vote of Green Party members, as is required by its rules, by mid-September.
The talks are expected to be preceded by a meeting between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Green Party leader John Gormley over the next few days. Mr Gormley, the Minister for the Environment, has been away, and is expected back in Dublin today.
It is understood both parties are keen to have the process completed before the campaign for the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty begins in earnest in early September.
Neither side has confirmed the format of the talks as yet, but it is likely that it will follow the model used by both parties when drawing up the existing programme in June 2007. That will involve an exchange of documents between both parties, followed by formal talks undertaken by teams of negotiators from both sides.
In 2007 the Fianna Fáil delegation comprised Brian Cowen (then minister for finance), Noel Dempsey and the late Seamus Brennan.
The Green negotiators were John Gormley (then party chairman), Dan Boyle and its then general secretary Donal Geoghegan. There are expectations that Mr Boyle and Mr Geoghegan would be part of the party’s negotiating team.
There has been speculation the Greens will look for fundamental changes in the electoral system and also a ban on corporate donations. The party has refused to confirm if they form part of its demands.Green Party sources believe the party is in a stronger negotiating position than it was two years ago. Its demands will, therefore, reflect the fact that the Fianna Fáil-led Coalition is now more reliant on it for survival than it was in 2007, said the sources.
The aim of the new programme will be to restore stability to the economy and to create more jobs.
Members of the Greens will be asked to vote on the revised programme for government at a special meeting at which two-thirds support will be required.
There is a possibility that this issue could be decided at the meeting arranged to discuss the National Asset Management Agency on September 12th.
