Long sessions end in FF/Green accord

NEGOTIATION PROCESS:LIKE A modernistic theatre production, the negotiations between Fianna Fáil and the Greens on a revised programme for government were conducted on three different stages.

The spotlight was on the protracted series of meetings between the two negotiating teams: Ministers Noel Dempsey, Dermot Ahern and Mary Hanafin for Fianna Fáil and, for the Greens, Minister Eamon Ryan, deputy leader Mary White TD and party chairman Senator Dan Boyle.

These talks were conducted in Mr Ryan’s office on the ministerial corridor located at the rear of the Dáil chamber. A Green source said: “We’re not letting Fianna Fáil control the thing.”

These talks lasted more than a week, with estimates of the time expended ranging from 50 to 60 hours. After negotiating sessions, the Green delegation would report back to the party’s reference group which was ensconced in nearby Agriculture House.

This was the second talks de facto location because items agreed between the party delegations were discussed and filtered by the reference group, consisting of members of the parliamentary party, councillors and senior Green officials.

This caused some frustration to Fianna Fáil who complained that issues which had already been agreed were having to be revisited because the reference group had quibbled over the details.

Items which could not be agreed by the two teams were transferred to the third – and perhaps most important – setting for the talks: face-to-face meetings between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley.

Two such meetings between the party leaders took place yesterday.

The first began at approximately 3.50pm and reportedly went on for 1½ hours. It was brought to an unscheduled finish by a fire alarm which turned out to be false.

The second meeting commenced at 7.30pm.

The key issues generally were said to be education and political reform. Whereas Fianna Fáil sources indicated Green education spokesman Paul Gogarty TD had not achieved his aim of restoring the pupil/teacher ratio in primary schools to 1:27, instead of the 1:28 introduced in last October’s budget, Green sources were confident the Dublin Mid-West TD would be “very pleased” with the educational provisions of the document.

The mood on the two sides in the talks, as relayed to reporters, differed considerably.

Fianna Fáil were optimistic but comments considered to be in this vein from Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin were badly received by the Greens.

Green Party sources were consistently less confident of a positive outcome. But the mood of the Greens lifted around lunchtime with one prominent party figure stating that the document was “92 per cent agreed”. The remaining 8 per cent was agreed during the afternoon and evening.