Green Party:They've come a long way. Starting off 26 years ago on what was regarded as the eccentric fringe, the Green Party could end up holding the balance of power after the election. There are no more jokes about the "brown rice and sandals brigade" because the growing influence of the Greens is no laughing matter.
It's a scenario other political parties must envy. Growing concern about environmental issues in general and global warming in particular is the tide lifting all Green boats as the voters prepare to cast their ballots in a few weeks' time.
Another factor that may benefit the Greens is the notorious susceptibility of the Irish electorate to new fashions at election time. Way back in 1987 it was the PDs who were flavour of the month; in 1992 the Labour Party swept to power on the "Spring Tide"; and now it just might be the turn of Trevor Sargent and his troops.
Five years ago, the Greens won six Dáil seats with slightly less than four per cent of the vote and if opinion poll figures carry though to the current election, they could end up with 10 or more TDs this time around. At this stage of the proceedings, the Greens look like an essential component of any secure Rainbow coalition and will very likely find themselves being wooed by Fianna Fáil at the same time.
Sargent has declared he will step down as party leader if the Greens go in with Fianna Fáil but that he is willing to serve as a minister in such a coalition. It's an intriguing, some would say jesuitical, proposition from Sargent who is generally seen as a choir-boy innocent in the cynical hurly-burly of Irish politics.
Whoever took over from Sargent in such a scenario - John Gormley or Eamon Ryan perhaps - would be offered the position of Tánaiste by Fianna Fáil and probably garner a greater share of ministries than a Rainbow arrangement could offer. As against that, the Greens, as an anti-establishment party, would naturally tend to be more suspicious of Fianna Fáil, given that party's long tenure in power .
At time of writing, the Greens are running some three dozen candidates in as many constituencies (they have two candidates in Dublin North, where Sargent is accompanied by a running mate, Cllr Joe Corr). Apart from their outgoing TDs and a few others, many are comparative unknowns and this lack of political experience could tell in the dust and heat of the campaign.
The party won only 18 seats in the local elections in 2004, fewer than it had a decade before, and in the same year the Greens lost both their seats in the European Parliament.
The Greens traditionally took an anti-establishment line on issues related to Ireland's membership of the European Union. They were a leading element of the campaign that defeated the Nice Treaty in the first referendum. In more recent times there has been a certain softening of their stance vis-a-vis Brussels and the Greens are holding fire on the issue of the EU Constitutional Treaty until they see the final agreed text.
The war in Iraq has been another major issue for the Greens, who have participated enthusiastically in protests against the US invasion and the use of Shannon as a transit point for troops on their way to the warzone. Alleged CIA "rendition" of kidnapped prisoners through Shannon has also been taken up vigorously.
At the party's 2005 National Convention, the Greens decided against entering any pre-election pact with other elements of the opposition. This strategy is likely to be vindicated at the polling booth, with Green candidates attracting transfers from all shades of the political spectrum. Who knows, maybe Government Buildings will be the next stop?
But whether the Greens have the cohesion and political experience to be stable coalition partners remains to be seen.
NO OF SEATS IN OUTGOING DÁIL: 6
NATIONAL SHARE OF VOTE 2002: 3.85%
