Leader's speech: The following is an edited version of Green Party leader Trevor Sargent's address in Kilkenny:
"I look around and see a Green Party fit for Government, focused on policies to improve the lives of all and fuelled with the energy to do things better.
Twenty-five years ago we were formed to deliver a new political philosophy, that recognised that there were limits to our growth and that the quality of our lives should not be measured by statistics alone.
It believed in a world free of nuclear weapons and free of gross inequalities between rich and poor. It saw that nature was under threat and that we needed to start valuing and protecting our global commons.
It also realised that energy resources would soon become scarce. Twenty-five years ago we were aware that fossil fuels were disrupting the climate.
However, we did not realise the problem's magnitude.
A Green is simply someone who sees that our natural and social world is being threatened and wants to do something about it. Our thinking will become the century's mainstream political philosophy.
Without fear or favour, our energy spokesperson, Eamon Ryan, sought to bring about a cross-party task force to help set out a long-term energy strategy.
His proposal received widespread support, but unfortunately Fine Gael and Labour blocked [ it]. The others may deliver rhetoric but it is going to take Green energy to deliver real change. We would have sugar factories reopened, producing biofuels, and make Ireland a world leader in wave, tidal and wind power.
It is sad to see political opponents react with nothing but derisive clichés, showing up their own lack of vision. We engage in open and honest dialogue with anyone, but we pour scorn on the rants heard recently from Minister Michael McDowell and his ilk.
Minister McDowell, when you associate the anti-war movement and the Green Party with Dublin's recent riots you insult the hundreds of thousands of decent peaceful Irish people who took to the streets in protest against the war in Iraq. Shame on you. Shame on your knee-high political thinking.
It is also time for Bertie Ahern to stand indicted.
Why have housing lists doubled? Why are social amenities non-existent? Why are so many schools so badly under-resourced? Why are so many drug programmes chronically under-funded? Why are sick people dying on trolleys? Why are 250,000 children living in poverty? Meanwhile, he spends €19,000 a year on make-up.
His Government's bad planning is costing us all by undermining the community spirit that for so long has been one of our greatest strengths. He is now wrapping himself in the flag of community values, no doubt because his focus groups are telling him that the damage to community life is being seen as one of his worst legacies.
For all his talk of community values, the reality is the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. It is the wealthy developers who are the big winners and they in turn bankroll Fianna Fáil and their PD poodles.
First-time house buyers can certainly relate to the feeling of being robbed by developers. Land rezoning profits that could be used for playgrounds or community centres are instead lining speculators' pockets.
The tribunals are drip feeding us the scandal of how planning and corruption has gone hand in hand. Bribery, corruption and bad planning are a legacy of Fianna Fáil domination, locally and nationally. It claims all these scandals are a thing of the past, but where is the proof? Some "Soldiers of Destiny" have clean forgotten that it ever happened! Do you believe that an honest man or woman could ever have forgotten the size of payments that have been received or that in their hearts they did not know that they were intrinsically improper and corrupt? We want the Taoiseach to discipline his own members who told blatant lies when they were questioned by their own party. Failure to act now can only be read as the condoning of a corrupt political and planning regime.
Why are the rules that allow obscene rezoning profiteering still in place? We will implement a windfall tax on development land, so that communities, rather than developers benefit from rezoning.
Last week, we again proposed that local authorities should acquire development land at its existing value plus 25 per cent. This way, landowners still benefit, but local authorities also win. It will bring down housing prices for everyone and provide funds for sadly lacking amenities. It is disgraceful that Ireland still has more golf courses than playgrounds.
We will have to do more than end corruption to tackle the housing crisis. In the middle of our greatest housing boom it is a disgrace that the housing lists have doubled. The Greens in government will build 10,000 social homes per year until waiting lists are cleared.
We will reduce the stamp duty to facilitate retired couples trade down to free up larger houses for families with young children.
Ireland can no longer afford to be ruled by this Government. It is costing communities in quality of life, in over-priced infrastructure. It is costing wildlife habitats on land and at sea whose destruction is often subsidised by Government grants. €116 million was spent on PPARS, and it never worked. It spent €30 million on the FISP computer system and it never worked. It spent €3 million on a Department of Health website, and it has never worked. E-voting has now cost over €90 million, and it didn't work.
This Government has no effective policy to tackle climate change. We estimate that €1 billion worth of fines will be levied on Ireland over the next six years - fines for pollution we shouldn't be causing in the first place.
Ireland is both the planet's fifth-highest greenhouse gas emitter per capita, and the EU's slowest to reduce fossil fuel dependency.
We would set a target of an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050 and start achieving it in our first year. The Environmental Protection Agency would be radically reformed. We would put real experts on state boards and not political cronies.
The people will benefit with a Green Party in Government, not just because Green politics are clean politics, but because the end of the era of cheap fossil fuels is upon us and the other parties don't even see it. We will go into Government with our eyes wide open and our sleeves rolled up and ready to go. We have spent 25 years coming up with the solutions Ireland now needs.
The question is, "Can we live well and plan for a future beyond oil?" Sweden certainly is leading by example, planning to wean itself off oil by 2020.
As the oil runs out, we will have to adapt to living more locally and this can be a good news story. Food that travels half way around the world to get to your plate makes little sense. Locally produced produce will be better value and it tastes better too. Wood is already cheaper than oil when it comes to heating. What we now call waste will be sought after as the raw materials of tomorrow. Our zero waste strategy will become the conventional wisdom.
We were to the fore in raising some of the difficulties that come with the opening up of labour and other markets but we will stand up for the rights of migrant workers and those seeking asylum. We will equally stand by the principle that such workers should have the same access and employment rights that we ourselves expected and benefited from when we joined.
We need a more planned and co-ordinated approach to immigration that requires real changes to housing, education and social welfare systems and not just enterprise and labour policies.We will appoint a Minister for Migrant Affairs who will look after the needs of the Irish in America just as much as those who have come to our shores.
Farmers want a future. We will provide that. We are working with farmers to protect Ireland's GM-free status. We are working with farmers to develop a biomass industry.
Parents want greater flexibility and freedom in the rearing of their children. So do we. We are committed to more flexible working. We will create free pre-school places for every child, and offer proper paid parental leave.
Additional revenues will have to be raised to pay for essential services.
Such revenue would come from tax reforms that would reduce tax avoidance, but would not rely on corporation and income tax rate increases.
But it's not just about how much money you spend. It's about how well you spend it. Under Mary Harney, we have our worst A&E crisis. Three weeks ago, the number waiting on trolleys reached a record high of 455.
If the Department of Health was a private company, Ms Harney would have been fired. Her only aim seems to be to privatise as much of it as possible with no public debate.
The Greens would do things differently. We will fight the causes of ill-health such as alcohol abuse, diabetes, and road casualties. Prevention is better than cure.
Likewise we believe we have to be tough on crime but also tough on the causes of crime. We see the direct connection between growing inequality and rising crime levels. For all Michael McDowell's bluster and personal insults he cannot hide that detection levels are getting worse. The Garda needs radical reform and resources in the face of additional duties and a growing population. We support the introduction of a community-based police force.
Politics should be about alternatives, based on real values that should cherish and nurture communities rather than foster a fixation with money and consumption.
We are about social awareness. We are committed to accountability. We are ready for Government. Do we stand for honesty in politics? Yes. Do we stand for eliminating poverty and injustice? Yes. Do we stand for protection of the environment? Yes. Do we stand for a better quality of life? Yes - absolutely."