'Clear endorsement' of programme for government by Greens unsurprising, says Ossian Smyth
Green Party TD Ossian Smyth has said he was not surprised at the scale of the endorsement of the programme for government by his party’s members.
In his conversations with people during the previous week he had seen the level of support.
“It was better that there was a clear result,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. He said he was glad that there was such a
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Mr Smyth defended the length of the count of Green Party votes. “We wanted to be seen to be fair.” Counting had been outsourced and the company responsible had been very cautious.
When asked if he thought the party would lose members because of the vote, he said no and that the TDs who had opposed the programme for government had already indicated that they will work to implement the programme.
The plan is only the start, he said. “The hard work is delivering line by line.”
The three Cabinet portfolios that will be taken by Green Party TDs will be a surprise to him today.
He would be happy with any position for the party, he liked transport and climate action, but pointed out that there will be new configurations and ministerial portfolios.
The Green Party would be delighted to have a role in agriculture, he replied when asked if his party would like that portfolio.
On the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD Jack Chambers said the agreement between the three parties is about the future of the country not the differences of the past.
The three parties have a new vision and can provide a “really transformative” five-year programme.
Fine Gael’s Martin Heydon acknowledged that there had been much “soul searching” among members of the party for whom the prospect of coalition with Fianna Fáil “did not sit well”.
He had no doubt that the three parties would all come together to deliver the “very ambitious” programme and that the government would last five years.
“I trust Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to buy into this wholeheartedly, to have a genuine approach to this partnership.”
