Green Party to jump ship? Unlikely I’d have thought. May 17, 2009
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.trackback
Starkadder raised this thought here in light of this report.
I don’t know and would be interested in what others had to say. For my money this is an attempt by the Green Party to carve out a bit of space that it can call its own in the run-up to the election, remind Fianna Fáil that its still there and in a position should it choose to do so to cause it real pain and distance itself from the government.
A tricky operation on all counts, not least because it does not demur from the overall Fianna Fáíl approach on the economy. And from my experience of GP members the idea that they’d ‘jump ship’ as the opposition puts it is near-laughable. More likely, by far, that it will be FF that runs to the life boats.
Meanwhile Simon on Irish Election has some very interesting points as to why the GP should use this opportunity to push their agenda.
Perhaps Gormley is trying to rebut the accusations that the Greens
sold out by trying to act independently of FF? I suspect the majority
of Greens won’t jump,though.
There’s of course the politics of it, but from a govt point of view, it is something that should actually be done. In coalition Govts, Programmes for Govt (PfGs) are quite important, as they set out what was the ‘price’ agreed by each party for sharing power beyond the number of bums on seats, i.e. the policies. However, the current one is in tatters, many of the policies will not/cannot be now delivered, but there’s no ‘new’ PfG to take its place. This creates an uncomfortable vacuum between the 2 parties, and yes, if I was a pro-FF coalition person in the Greens, I’d still be looking to re-negotiate, as otherwise everytime they pipe up they can just be outvoted.
The reason they’ve come out and said it publicly, however is I presume to put the impression of distance between them and FF (and possibly hold out the hope that they’ll walk on June 7th) – however I think the opposite is the case, they are doing it to stay in there.
Listening to Eamonn Ryan on the 6 O’ Clock news talking about the importance of ‘creating jobs and implementing savings in the public service’ and you know they’re not leaving anytime soon
It’s a smart move by the Greens. It will help to avoid the impression that they’re passive members of government, they might gain some new concessions from FF and while certain aspects of the PFG might not be possible to achieve anymore, by renegotiating the agreement, they can make it seem as though it wasn’t simply a case that the majority partner ignored them and instead they can make it seem as though they were mature, flexible partners who recognised the realities of our new economic situation and re-prioritised.
Good for the Greens, perhaps not for Ireland.
The Greens are playing to the electoral gallery.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if Fianna Fáil agreed to it – and told the big Greens how far they could go in seeming to rock the boat without sinking it.
The Greens might be thinking that some transfers will result from this. No good to them in the by elections, I’d say, but in the locals they’ll be looking for FG/Labour/independent transfers that would not happen if there was no ‘green water’ between them and FF.
I’m not sure that’ll have much effect, but then again, what have they got to lose? Saying nothing would be tacit admission of surrender ( look at the faces of FF canvassers). Hinting that they might jump ship at least reminds other parties that they’re open to coalition offers after a general election.
Is Dotski a bohs fan?
ummmm ….. no …… *tries to think why the above post would make someone think such a thing*……..
nothing to do with the above post just a similar named poster on another site.
ok! I use it a few places, but not a bohs fan, sorry!
I think Eamonn’s confusing you with Dotsy
Gormley would do well to remember what his ex-constituency colleague once said “you’re either radical or redundant”. If the Greens are serious about implementing major reform then now is the time, they have a desperate FF by the balls.
The Greens won’t go. They know that as a serious electoral force – ie in the Dail, they’re more or less finished at the next election. Pulling out now only brings that forward. And that they have a hard slog post 2012 building up another, more credible, Green Party. They may have had a membership surge since going into government. But with one or no TDs in the Dail and a handful of councillors they’ll struggle to keep the membership ‘enthused’. I think we may end up with a centre right-ish Greens and a smaller ‘left’ Green party.
I must be part of an increasing minority who still can’t really see an election this year. The only way I can see the Greens going, for its only they that have the power to pull the plug, is conversly if they do well in the Locals and Euros. If that was to occur they could declare victory and pull out. But they won’t do well and so, like FF, can only hunker down and hope that a GE in three years time will be held in a more comfortable environment.
I think that FF may well replace Cowen in the Autumn, they will win Lisbon II and then its the big test to get the budget passed in December with a new more sympathetic leader, ie Martin. The Greens may well be able to claim the scalp of Cowen, buying them time and so pass the budget. If the budget gets through then we are scheduled for a full five years.
Sad but I feel most likely.
Entirely agree. Who benefits from a change in govt amongst those in govt?
On Sunday, May 17, 2009, the Green-FF’s leafleted houses with the spin that Covanta could not get finance so the Dublin Bay incinerator was a no-go (“collapse”).
However on Monday, MAY 18, 2009, at 7:00 A.M. ET the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Covanta was selling at least $300 million in 5-year cash-convertible notes to private entities for construction in Dublin.
The WSJ states:
“Covanta said proceeds from the offering, which will be private, could be used for items including plant construction in Dublin along with potential investments or acquisitions.”
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2009/05/green-ff-desperate-untruths-on.html