Irish Green Party in Government 2007 to 2011

The Irish Green Party entered Government in coalition with Fianna Fáil in June 2007, and exited in February 2011 just prior to the General Election campaign. The party suffered severe losses in both that General Election and the previous local and European Elections. It now faces the task of rebuilding both the organisation and public confidence in the party. This series of blogs covers some of the more momentous moments of the party’s time in office.

‘Case history’ on how not to do coalition government.

Apparently the Irish people cannot have a general election any time soon according to the latest communication from the Green Party’s Dan Boyle. Why so?  Well to summarise – the Irish voters would put the Labour Party and Fine Gael into Government – two political parties the Greens’ deem unsuitable. Under any other guise this statement could be labelled totalitarianism!

Review of Fianna Fáil/Green coalition government

Red Pepper, a UK left wing magazine, asked me to write an opinion piece on the Irish Green Party in Government.   The article was written late December in time for Red Pepper’s current edition.

Government eats up the Greens

“Last October, Irish Green Party members reaffirmed their commitment to staying in power with the centre right Fianna Fáil party, by voting to support a mid-term renegotiated Programme for Government (PfG). 

More significantly the party also voted to support the coalition government’s favoured initiative to rescue Irish financial institutions, the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA). 

In the weeks leading up to the vote, Green Party Leader, John Gormley announced that the new PfG would be transformational – a statement which succeeded in focusing media attention on the new agreement negotiations and away from the controversial NAMA.