GREEN PARTY Ministers will remain in Government until the next administration takes over, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said.
He expects the Taoiseach to set out a “rough timetable” later this month for the general election.
In an interview with The Irish Timeshe said some Fianna Fáil Ministers wanted the Greens to be fired from Cabinet after they broke ranks last November but that other Ministers understood his party's position.
The Greens have been informed by the Department of Finance and Government Chief Whip John Curran that the Finance Bill will probably be published on January 20th. Mr Gormley said the Bill, which enacts the terms of last month’s Budget, will probably not take the normal period of six weeks to pass through the Dáil and Seanad. He envisaged the legislation going through “within a four-to-five-week period”.
“I think on this occasion we could possibly curtail its passage and have a quicker debate around the issues; that’s not to say that we shouldn’t discuss these issues in as much detail as possible.”
Mr Gormley anticipated the election being called immediately afterwards: “That has been the clear message coming from the Taoiseach, in his own statements.” In its declaration last November, the Green Party said it was “time to fix a date for a general election in the second half of January”.
This was understood at the time to mean the Greens were demanding that an election take place in late January, but Mr Gormley has insisted it meant “a date for the general election would be given” at that time.
“I think the Taoiseach understands that and I think he may indeed be in a position to give a rough timetable and a date for the election at that stage,” he said.
Mr Gormley said in November that the Greens would no longer participate in Government after the Budget was delivered but he has now said the Green Ministers will remain in office until there is a change of administration.
The general understanding of the Green position had been that, once the Finance Bill was passed, they would leave office, but Mr Gormley has said: “The matter has not been discussed by the national executive committee of the party, but that’s where we’re at, that’s our understanding as of now, yes.”
Asked about claims that he had been opposed to the party’s declaration last November and was pressured into it by Green TDs Paul Gogarty and Trevor Sargent, Mr Gormley said: “No, that’s completely untrue.” Asked if the Green parliamentary party was of one mind on that occasion, he replied: “Absolutely, 100 per cent.”
The Greens have several items of legislation to be concluded before the election. The passing of the Bill for direct elections to the Dublin mayoralty is “very close to completion”.
The Climate Change Response Bill is being brought before the Seanad when the Oireachtas resumes on Wednesday afternoon. The Environmental (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill is to be published on Monday, providing for levies on landfill and incineration among other matters.
Mr Gormley hoped to be in a position to publish the Bill to ban corporate donations to political parties around January 20th.
Admitting that it was a “fairly crowded” legislative agenda, the Minister said the Greens are “quietly confident” of getting through it.
He said the party’s initiative last November brought certainty to the political situation at a time of turmoil and disquiet: “I know there were members of the Cabinet who wanted to see the two Green Ministers fired, and there was a great deal of discontent, and I understand it, but equally there were other members who understood that the Green Party had to act in this way.”
He said people missed the point in his Dáil speech on November 30th when he compared membership of the Government to wearing a straitjacket in an asylum. “Being in Government during an economic crisis, you are in a straitjacket,” he said.
“The point I was trying to make to the Labour Party people was, ‘You are going to be in government, you are going to be in exactly the same straitjacket and if you think you can magic your way out of this without making hard decisions then you are deluded’.”