Fianna Fáil Ministers were last night considering a negotiating document from the Greens, listing the issues remaining in the way of agreement on the formation of a coalition government involving the Green Party, write Deaglán de Bréadúnand StephenCollins.
Fianna Fáil contacted the Greens by telephone yesterday afternoon almost immediately after Green Party negotiator John Gormley TD told RTÉ's This Week he was "very disappointed" at the collapse of the talks last Friday but added that a deal was "still possible".
Mr Gormley was responding to an overture from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who acknowledged publicly that the Greens had brought forward some good ideas in the area of climate change. He also said the party's policies on transport, health and education were not incompatible with those of Fianna Fáil.
The phone-call was made shortly after 2pm by one of the Ministers on the Fianna Fáil negotiating team along with a senior party official, seeking a documented list of unresolved issues between the two sides.
Senior Green Party members in the back-up team, or "reference group", had already arranged a meeting for 3.30pm at head office in Dublin. The document was compiled within about two hours and was on its way to the Fianna Fáil negotiators shortly before 6pm.
The Greens requested that Fianna Fáil respond "as quickly as possible" as time was running out for a deal. In the event of a satisfactory outcome, the Greens intend to hold an emergency national conference in the middle of this week, prior to Thursday's Dáil vote on the nomination of a taoiseach and the formation of a government.
Despite the logistical difficulties involved and the need for the support of a two-thirds majority, the endorsement of any deal by a national conference will be required to enable the Greens to participate in government.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman confirmed contacts had resumed yesterday afternoon. The focus was on "the outstanding issues from Friday that will be looked at and worked-on". Neither side was prepared to make a prediction about how things will develop. "We are taking it one hour at a time," said one Fianna Fáil source. Despite earlier reports that direct talks were about to take place between the two party leaders, Mr Ahern had still not made contact with his Green counterpart, Trevor Sargent, by late yesterday.
Meanwhile, a Fianna Fáil spokeswoman confirmed that there were "ongoing contacts" with the Progressive Democrats and Independents. The party is in touch with four of the five Independents - Beverley Flynn, Jackie Healy-Rae, Michael Lowry and Finian McGrath. So far, no contact has been made with Tony Gregory, who represents the same constituency of Dublin Central as Mr Ahern.
It emerged yesterday that a critical misunderstanding between Fianna Fáil and the Greens last Thursday led to the breakdown of the talks the following day. A statement by the Greens at that stage that a deal seemed unlikely was taken by the Fianna Fáil team as a bargaining tactic rather than a genuine assessment.
It appears that until the Greens walked out of the talks, the Fianna Fáil side failed to appreciate that the concessions they were offering were insufficient for the party leadership to take the risk of putting a deal to a conference that would require a two-thirds majority.
Suggestions that Green negotiators Mr Gormley and Dan Boyle were in favour of accepting what was on offer on Friday, but were overruled by Mr Sargent, have been denied by the party sources who say that the "reference group" which oversaw the negotiations unanimously rejected the Fianna Fáil proposals.
It is understood a redistribution of departmental responsibilities is a significant issue, with the transfer of the energy brief from the Department of Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources to the Department of the Environment under discussion.
Analysis by Stephen Collins and reports, page 7; John Waters, page 14; Editorial comment, page 15