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Green deputy leader Catherine Martin will support efforts to form a government despite opposing entering coalition talks with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
Ms Martin and fellow TDs Francis Noel Duffy and Neasa Hourigan all voted against entering the talks while TD Patrick Costello abstained.
A failure by the two bigger parties to firmly commit to reducing greenhouse gases by an annual 7% was seen as a major contributing factor. One Green source said:
“Housing, transport, LNG -Liquefied natural gas-, direct provision. We also would have preferred stronger commitment on the 7%.”
However, the eight remaining party TDs, including leader Eamon Ryan, voted to enter the talks.
Ms Martin told the Irish Examiner:
I could not support entering formal negotiations because my clear preference was firstly to request further essential written clarifications and explanations from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on a number of issues including core social justice issues.
She said there were “a number of loopholes, lacunas and ambiguities in replies to the Greens 17 questions to the two bigger parties.
“Personally I feel further clarification would have placed any subsequent negotiation on a more solid footing and would have assisted in avoiding the danger of ambiguity or wriggle room emerging on the part of negotiating teams at a later much advanced stage and that would have the potential to spook our members or derail the process, “Ms Martin said.
Mr Ryan, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet in Leinster House and discuss the next moves in the government formation.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD
at Leinster House. Photo: Gareth Chaney / Collins
It is expected that a framework document for government, the recovery from the virus and responses to Green demands will be discussed. The three leaders are set to meet at Leinster House at 11am.
Young Green party members overnight said they were disappointed with the decision to enter the talks.
Young Greens chairman Gavin Nugent said the two parties track record on issues didn’’t “fill us with confidence”. Nonetheless, environment campaigners and NGOs have welcomed the move.
MEP Grace O’’Sullivan confirmed that there were internal party tensions.
“We have been inundated with emails saying’ ’go in or we will never vote for you again’ ’while others say’ ’do so at your peril’ ’.”
Social justice and climate change would be huge in the talks, she explained, but the virus would also last one to two years before there is a recession.
We really are in uncharted waters, different than before the election.
Nonetheless, the MEP said policies at a European level would support diversifying food chains and cyclical economies.
It is understood that a joint-letter from Mr Martin and Mr Varadkar to Mr Ryan over the weekend gave some comfort to party TDs about demands to cut emissions. Mr Martin also told this newspaper this week that he was “committed” to the emissions target.
But a deal is far from guaranteed. Green TD Joe O’’Brien said:
“We will take the concerns of our members about this, into the negotiation process. We won’t come back [to the table] unless the deal is very good. ”
Green TDs expect the talks will take several weeks and this is before any party conference, online or in a venue, is arranged to asses any deal.
However, there is pressure to proceed quickly, with € 4bn in supports for new businesses dependent on the formation of a new government.
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