This is an edited version of the speech by the Green party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent.
"What strange times we live in, friends, where this tired Government claims to be happy with its work and yet every week as Green Party TDs, MEPs, councillors and activists, we meet constituents who are destitute, desperate and depressed in the face of unaffordability of accommodation, frequent burglary, street violence, low wages, lack of school or other facilities; lack of public transport, too much traffic congestion, overcrowded hospital and drug treatment services, destruction of wildlife habitat, and increasingly destruction of their own homes and farms from flooding - to name but some of the problems requiring our help.
"Going into this election, the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas has the policies and the political experience to solve not just the symptoms, but also the underlying causes of a legacy of greed, generated by Government's failure to see how a healthy economy is dependent on a healthy environment. When Greens say 'think globally and act locally' we are being pragmatic. When the Progressive Dinosaurs say they have a problem with that, they are being politically prehistoric, and as the polls would indicate, extinction for them seems imminent.
"Our economic policies are threefold in that they promote economic efficiency, ecological conservation and social equity. To fail in respect of any one of these objectives is to jeopardise future economic prospects.
"All three objectives are also needed to ensure competitiveness in the short term and sustainability in the long term. Sadly, however, the economic policies of this Government are organised around lifeless abstractions of neoclassical economics, with progress being measured on GNP and GDP regardless of suicides, rural depopulation, habitat destruction and lack of affordable housing, health and education. We support the work of FEASTA, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, in developing far better indicators of progress which measure real quality of life issues for real people in the real world.
"People should know what they are getting when they vote Green. It is often said that Green politics is clean politics. As a party which has exposed corruption and fought with many local communities for good planning and improved facilities, Greens have a reputation for honesty, hard work and community involvement.
"In terms of our priorities overall, the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas will improve quality of life by creating a society where humans can live in harmony with nature and with themselves.
"This means more than protecting the environment, soil, water, air and biodiversity, so that we can physically and ecologically survive. It also means altering the way we live, changing the emphasis from relentless consumption and economic growth, which is logically finite, to sustainable economic activity and measuring progress using sustainability indicators. Green policy seeks also to develop community and family life with a greater awareness of how we share the planet with each other, and indeed with other species.
"Thus, among specific targets of Green policy are high quality public transport and cycleways, ending poverty, refundable tax credits, encouraging parental childcare, preventative medicine and proper healthcare, tackling the causes of crime and substance abuse, the promotion of indigenous local industry, a new recycling industry, renewable energy, the promotion of village life in rural areas and multicultural community life in cities, the protection of small farms, organic farming, forestry which favours a broadleaf timber industry, a zero waste strategy and the closure of Sellafield.
"Much still needs to be done to tailor our energy demands to the energy resources at our disposal. Difficult choices face this country. If we are to maintain a competitive advantage as an open economy, energy waste must end. Whatever about the price of oil, coal and gas which will rise as reserves are depleted, the total failure of Government to slow the rise of greenhouse gas emissions will result in billions of euro in fines on this country after 2012 when our performance in the context of the Kyoto protocol is assessed. And what about Kyoto Mark II and Kyoto Mark III? Who else but us is giving leadership here? In the Dáil this week John Gormley TD and the whips of the other parties introduced electronic voting.
"It is worth pointing out the modern way to vote positively from now on is to press the Green button which lights up a green seat on the display board. Going by the few polls to hand showing a growing number of our candidates here taking seats right around the country, it is time for other parties to get used to seeing more green lights around Leinster House. Roll on the general election; Green Party candidates are ready to make the vital difference and remember green politics is clean politics."