GREEN PARTY:THE GREEN Party yesterday signalled that it would be interested in participating in a coalition government led by Fine Gael.
Speaking in Cork, Green Party leader John Gormley said the party would be willing to talk to Fine Gael about a coalition arrangement after the general election but Fine Gael would have to agree to implement a programme of political and electoral reform.
In Dublin, former ministers Eamon Ryan and Ciarán Cuffe said the party had experience of how government and the Civil Service worked and had a clear view on reform “having worked within the system for 3½ years”.
In both Dublin and Cork the former ministers stressed their commitment to public-sector reform, and their welcome for aspects of Fine Gael policy.
“I have said, and perhaps it should be taken as a compliment to the Green Party, Fine Gael have been wonderful plagiarists. They have taken elements of Green Party policy lock, stock and barrel and they have cut-and-pasted them,” Mr Gormley said.
Canvassing in Cork City with the party’s candidates, including Senator Dan Boyle, he said his party would need a commitment from Fine Gael to Green Party policies, remarking, “if Fine Gael followed through on aspects of them then that’s fine”.
He said the Green Party was closer to Fine Gael’s position regarding a two-to-one ratio between curtailing public spending and increasing taxes, than it was to Labour’s 50/50 divide. But he said he believed Fine Gael needed to provide further detail on its plans to cut expenditure.
“As I said to Enda Kenny, I’ll think about it when I see that your figures actually add up,” he said.
“Before any negotiations start we will be setting down our red-line issues and one of those is going to be electoral reform. We’re not going to improve the prospects of this country by continuing with an outdated electoral system which has not served the people of this country.”
In Dublin, Mr Ryan also referred to public-sector reform and said he was willing to work with all parties.
“In any such talks we have experience of how government works, how the public service works. We would treat and work with all parties in the same way in a professional manner.”
Asked if he would appeal to Fine Gael supporters to give second preferences to the Green Party, Mr Ryan said “to be honest I am more interested in getting people to give first preference to the Green Party because if you don’t get enough first preferences you won’t be there to support such a coalition arrangement.”