Greens - first to ditch power for principle?

[tonys]

What's the point of government if you can't implement anything that might possibly piss off a FF vested interest (i.e. just about every single Green policy)? Like a lot of people on this site, you don't understand the Greens very well do you.

Remember that it is a little wrong for a party with a small percentage of the vote to control a govt with a party with 41% of the vote, who has the mandate?? And yes, the PDs did it and I think it was completely wrong. And I agree with the Greens on co-location.

Let's get something straight. FF got no such mandate. If they did they wouldn't be sucking up to parties and individuals they privately despise just to deliver King Bertie his three in a row.
What they got was 3-4% of the electorate ************************ting their pants at the last second and taking what they thought was the safe option. GW and Karl Rove did the same in 2004, scaring the s*it out of a few 100k voters in key States with outrageous fibs.

FF got 41.6% of the FP vote, over 50% more FP votes than FG and over 10% more than the next two largest parties (FG+Lab) put together. We don’t need biased amateur analysis of why the electorate voted this way, we just need to know that they did.

Finally, if Bertie falls we MUST have another election end of story.
A key component of what was sold to the Electorate was that Bertie was clean, if he isn't we cannot just have a coronation of his party's appoinetd successor.

FG & Labour got one bite at the cherry, the electorate rejected that alternative, they’re not entitled to nor will they be getting another, not for some years anyway.

[tonys]

Most of us, including most of the politicans, seem to have forgotten that the office they hold is on the basis of we, the electorate's, trust. It is no more than that; the right to weild that trust on our individual behalf.

That trust is in a very real sense a borrowed trust, which we as electors take back each time a new election comes around. If the receipient proves him or herself worthy of that trust then we may decide to renew that trust when we next vote.

This idea that the politician's have a free hand to do as they please is fraught with danger. I dare anyone to believe that Michael McDowell or his colleagues in the PDs who have lost their seats would dispute this fact too vigorously.

All politicians forget this eternal truth at their peril. I voted for a Green candidate in this election--albeit not as a FP vote, but nonetheless a tranfer that was the difference between his winning or losing the seat--and should he and his colleagues throw away that trust to jump four feet and snout into the swill trough with the present bunch, I for one will not be renewing that trust come next election. And I believe I am not the only one who shares that viewpoint.

So think long and hard gentlemen. You worked hard to win that trust, but if you do the wrong thing now, it's gone forever. That would be a high price to pay for going into a government that is unlikely to last more than a few months, even if it does manage to bump its way past the furniture on next Thursday's sitting.

The only reason you gave the Green party a preference was because you thought they’d help your party get into Government and the only reason I didn’t is because I thought the same, they don’t owe you or me anything. From the Greens point of view FF can bring in 41.6% + assorted others of 3.5/4%, in FP and transfers from these votes, FG&Lab combined bring in about 37%. If you want to play the votes game, you’ll lose.

[rockyracoon]

I gave Greens a 2nd pref. I broadly support their agenda. If, however, they go into government with a FF/PD/Ind coalition, I won't bother next time. Any chance they have of implementing real change in a FF/Green coaltion is virtually gone within the broader coalition. They will be there there to soften FF's image for the next election. Nothing more.

[MacEHaVelly]

Are the Greens the first Irish political Party to give away a chance to go into Government for the sake of principle?

Is there any place for such highmindedness in Irish Politics?

Should the Greens now quit politics and become a lobby group instead?

Tut tut tut

[MacEHaVelly]

Must say that although I think they are a bit short-sighted on this one I nonetheless cannot help admiring them.

I do think they could have kept an eye on FF but I can understand their reluctance in wanting anything to do with Ireland's real untouchables the PDs.

T, i think you'll find it's SF that remain the untouchables.... someday with a barge pole, perhaps?

[Robert A Taft]

I gave Greens a 2nd pref. I broadly support their agenda. If, however, they go into government with a FF/PD/Ind coalition, I won't bother next time. Any chance they have of implementing real change in a FF/Green coaltion is virtually gone within the broader coalition. They will be there there to soften FF's image for the next election. Nothing more.

The reality for minor partners in any coalition is that implementing their policy platform to any significant extent will prove difficult. Would the GP have any more influence in a FG/Lab coalition?

[Worldbystorm]

I gave Greens a 2nd pref. I broadly support their agenda. If, however, they go into government with a FF/PD/Ind coalition, I won't bother next time. Any chance they have of implementing real change in a FF/Green coaltion is virtually gone within the broader coalition. They will be there there to soften FF's image for the next election. Nothing more.

The reality for minor partners in any coalition is that implementing their policy platform to any significant extent will prove difficult. Would the GP have any more influence in a FG/Lab coalition?

That's a very good question. I can't see how they would since it would still require a balance of x number of TDs to put FG/Labour over the line. And the nonsense over the supercoalition would make it worse still...