From the outset, environment and green issues look set to be a key part of the new coalition. And it's not just the Green Party members. Fianna Fáil and PD TDs are also embracing a new green political lexicon with gusto, throwing in phrases such as "biosphere" and talking about the need for a "sustainable, low carbon future".
Here's a guide to some of the terms most likely to be repeated again and again and again by our new Government:
Sustainability
Very much the buzz-word of the new Government, it is already being used at every opportunity to describe the new administration's approach to everything from the economy and the environment to its own longevity.
The term sustainable development was best described by the Brundtland Commission which defined it as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Carbon tax
A levy on fossil fuels, including peat, coal, petrol and diesel, a carbon tax is an attempt to place a price on the environmental cost of the greenhouse gases produced from such sources.
Unlike traditional taxes, which are normally applied as a percentage of the cost of a good or service, the amount of carbon tax depends on the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the product.
Therefore fuels with higher CO2 emission levels such as peat will have a higher tax applied to them.
Carbon budgets
A plan the Government proposes to produce each year on budget day to outline exactly how it will achieve its aim of reducing greenhouse gases by 3 per cent for the following 12 months.
The statement will be drawn up by the Department of Finance and read out to the Dáil by the Minister for Finance.
Carbon credits
The single biggest element in the current strategy to meet Ireland's Kyoto commitments.
Rather than making the required reductions at home, the last government decided to establish a carbon fund and use international mechanisms to buy credits abroad from companies and countries which have made reductions. It has been described by many, including quite a number of Greens, as buying our way out of trouble rather than tackling the problem head on.
Peak oil
A term to describe a theoretical but widely predicted event where the amount of oil resources being discovered in a year is less than the amount consumed. At this stage the known oil supplies will begin an inexorable decline, prompting very high prices as the supplies begin to run out.
Renewable resources/renewable energy
A resource is renewable when it cannot be depleted. The term is most usually attached to green energy sources like wind and solar power. The programme for government aims to see renewable resources account for 33 per cent of electricity by 2020. There will be minimum levels for use of biofuels in petrol and diesel blends and in public transport vehicles.
A low carbon future
The aim of creating an economy that is not reliant on fossil fuels. Such fuels currently provide about 80 per cent of Ireland's energy needs resulting in Ireland having one of the highest per capita emission levels in the world.
Biosphere
Mary Harney in the Dáil yesterday said she hoped an "organic biosphere" would be created in the Government where the Greens, Fianna Fáil and PDs could co-exist peacefully.
For the record, a biosphere is best defined as the global ecological system which integrates all living organisms.
Carbon offsetting
The act of reducing greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere to compensate for one's failure to reduce personal emissions.
It usually involves paying for or investing in a project which will produce greenhouse gas reductions, such as tree-planting programmes. Offsetting is especially popular with people who use air travel a lot.
It is quite controversial, with critics claiming that the only thing that is really offset is a guilty conscience.
Biosecurity
The aim of ensuring natural and man-made habitats such as fields and farms are kept uncontaminated by unwanted organisms.
All-Ireland GM-free zone
The aim of keeping Ireland North and South free of all genetically modified organisms, from crops to animals.
An ambitious aim but one which is currently impossible under Irish, European and international laws and agreements.