New alliance ‘forced upon’ Green Party
It has been confirmed that Sinn Fein and the Green Party will form part of a new opposition alliance in the Dail.
A statement just released has verified that a deal has been done between Sinn Fein, the Green Party and 11 independent deputies.
The new technical group will not share policies but the move will enable members of the new alliance to get more Dail time and directly question the Taoiseach.
John Gormley of the Green Party is warning that the Taoiseach that the new grouping will be a real thorn in the Government’s side.
“The very fact now that we make up the second biggest block of the opposition will have a significant impact. We will provide real opposition. The last Dail I believe was pretty lame and we will put Mr Ahern and his colleagues under severe pressure," he said.
He did stress that his party will not share Sinn Fein policies.
“This is not an alliance and all the parties are very clear on this. Sinn Fein is clear on that, the Greens are clear and the independents are clear," he said.
"This is a technical grouping and it was forced upon us and we had no choice. Obviously the various parties would have preferred to have their mandate recognised by the Dail.”
