The Green Party. Any Lasting Legacies? A Political Assesment of a Former Dáil Party.

[flavirostris]

This is where they did the most damage

They were goose'ed from the minute they decided to do the deal with FF. I remember arguing with a mate who was a Green activist that it would all end in tears but he kept harping back to the point about it being impossible to implement Green policies unless they were in government.

This is something I've heard Green activists repeat ad nauseum over the last 4 years.. "you can't get policy implemented in opposition.""

Strictly speaking they are correct but if the price of that means going into government with a party like Fianna Fáil and being a mudguard for all the corruption they represent, then that's a price not worth paying.

[Keith-M]

They still exist - they're more like a cult than a political party

They always were, voting for the Greens was like those weekend shopping trips to New York, the apartment in Budapest and the colonic irrigation etc etc, it was just another lunatic manifestation of the "Celtic Tiger" nonsense.

[uriah]

I'm paying a quarter of what I used to pay in motor tax.

[Steepletone]

Sure they didnt even ban the old hat light bulbs i stil see them for sale in most shops

[rockofcashel]

They were the party that brought down FF.. for that alone, they deserve a lasting legacy

[bokuden]

They were party to wrecking the country, against good advice. Never to be forgotten, I'm afraid

[Mitsui2]

I think their long term legacy was to permanently discredit the Green movement as a political force in Ireland

They offered an illuminating insight into just how easily hand-wringing middle-class twatism can be exploited by megabillion scam merchants

they propped up the failures, in doing so they aided and abetted in the rape of my country

Will be remembered as a group of middle class bien pensants.

The really sad thing is that so many of us could have written (and in some cases did write) these true statements at the time.

The contemptibly cynical way that the pro-FF (well, pro power-at-any-cost-and-gimme-my-portfolio-thanks) Gormley faction fiddled their own NAMA vote was the Rubicon, but it was clear from the first that they were going to splash their way greedily across it.

In the case of the Greens I think we should have no hesitation at all about saying "We effing told you so, you cretins!"

[fionnmccool]

They sat on their hands in government while the country was being raped of its future and abandoned the people they were elected to serve. Saving us from NAMA and Bankster developer bailouts was far more important than bringing down FF which I doubt they were smart enough to plan. By turning a blind eye at the cabinet table they helped set this state and society back a decade or two hence reducing any money which would be available for real environmentally sound plans like a metro system and more railways etc but surely they knew this when they accepted minor 'bribes' of more bicycle lanes and were really in government for the power instead.
Now they are seen as U Turning self serving hypocrites with less credibility to the electorate for government than the bunch of honest Marxists who got elected. Really why does anyone need a Green party instead of a Green lobby when every party should be aware of environmental issues.

[berkeley]

The really sad thing is that so many of us could have written (and in some cases did write) these true statements at the time.

The contemptibly cynical way that the pro-FF (well, pro power-at-any-cost-and-gimme-my-portfolio-thanks) Gormley faction fiddled their own NAMA vote was the Rubicon, but it was clear from the first that they were going to splash their way greedily across it.

In the case of the Greens I think we should have no hesitation at all about saying "We effing told you so, you cretins!"

this was one of the many threads 2006-2008 lamenting the loss to the Irish envir movement of its political win;

http://www.politics.ie/elections/168...-party-18.html

[sinsin]

The Green Party,a skidmark on the underpants of Irish Politics.

Copyright Owned by Sinsin.
Free to people who say nice things to me.