GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley has described as “bogus” the argument over whether Ireland was more closely aligned to Boston or to Berlin.
Mr Gormley, also the Minister for the Environment, said this weekend that the aphorism coined by his ministerial colleague and then PD leader Mary Harney offered a choice that did not exist in reality. He also suggested that the changed economic circumstances had made the argument redundant.
“The reality is that Boston and Berlin raise complementary issues – not diametrically opposed options. I should at this point also say that when my Cabinet colleague, Mary Harney, raised the question of choices between Boston and Berlin all of nine years ago it was a very different world.
“Mary Harney was then the leader of the Progressive Democrats, and was unabashedly declaring her preference for the low-tax, minimally-regulated US economy.”
Mr Gormley said economic conditions has since totally changed and had forced a lot of change in the way that the US economy was run. That process of change had been much accelerated by the election of President Barack Obama.
“Boston and Berlin are now more a question of complementary issues. Ireland’s fate is yet again closely intertwined with that of the USA and our mainland European neighbours.”
Mr Gormley, who was addressing the Byrne Perry summer school in Gorey, Co Wexford, this weekend, also urged a strong Yes vote in the Lisbon referendum later this year.
“It is a matter of conviction for me that a Yes vote for the Lisbon Treaty this autumn will maintain and enhance our close links with our mainland European neighbours.
“But it will also help us maintain all our links with America – especially those of business which bring prosperity and jobs.”
Mr Gormley said Ireland’s EU and euro zone memberships were something which could still attract US investment to Ireland.
He also emphasised the role that the green jobs sector would play in addressing the current economic crisis.
“We have established a green jobs action group, which will see the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and some of the country’s top green entrepreneurs working together on this exciting project.
“Our green policies are already working. Half of the job announcements of the last six months have been in the green tech sector, including the ESB’s ambitious plans and jobs in retrofitting our existing housing stock.
“But if we are to create a truly long-term and sustainable green tech sector we will have to be able to attract inward investment.
“An Ireland at the centre of the European market, with a strong pro-European reputation, will be an essential element in attracting that inward investment.”
Mr Gormley confirmed that the party was now preparing for a special convention of members to decide if the party would officially back a Yes vote.
In January 2009, in the run-up to the first Lisbon referendum, a similar special meeting narrowly failed to secure the required two-thirds vote required for an official endorsement.
Separately, party sources confirmed yesterday that July 18th has been confirmed as the date for the members’ meeting which will discuss the Green’s disastrous performance in the local elections in which it lost 15 of its 18 full council seats.