FUTURE CHALLENGES:THE GOVERNMENT will have to rigorously control public spending in the coming years, Green Party leader John Gormley warned the party's grassroots.
Speaking in Dundalk at the end of the party's conference, Mr Gormley said: "I think we all have to accept that there is going to be belt-tightening in the next year, and even beyond that.
"This is something that the party membership is going to have to understand: that government in good times is a lot easier.
"This is certainly a challenge and it is something that we are going to have to go out and communicate to the membership, but the vast majority of the party's membership understands that."
Mr Gormley's declaration came shortly after party delegates overwhelmingly rejected calls to censure Ministers for their "very slow progress" in achieving the Programme for Government.
However, delegates at the conference also, by a narrow majority, turned down an amendment commending the party's performance over the last two months.
"Even people who were sceptical about us going into Government and some people who were downright opposed have now come on board and see the merits of it," Mr Gormley said when speaking to journalists later.
Announcing the results of the votes on the two motions, Senator Dan Boyle said: "I think it is like what Chou En-lai [ the late Chinese leader] said, that 'it is too soon to tell'."
Proposing the censure motion, Justin Byrne from Dublin Mid-West said it was not "a motion of no confidence" in the party's ministerial team.
"I am confident of our capabilities, but I am not confident about our performance," he said. "It isn't what we have done that is the issue. It is what we haven't done. We should move at a Green Party pace, not a Fianna Fáil pace."
Mr Byrne queried a recent promise by the ESB to spend €22 billion on green energy. ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus, he said, had talked of investing in CO22 emission-free coal burning as part of the investment. This said, Mr Bryne, will not prove to be sustainable because international coal stocks are not as large as the chief executive claims.
He also noted that Mr Gormley had said on Friday that there would be "no more irresponsible planning", yet he said efforts were made until last week to build on the Liffey Valley.
He said property developers were lobbying the Affordable Homes Partnership to seek changes to local authorities' development plans. "This is worse than rezoning by the backdoor," he said.
Ken Farrell from Dublin Mid-West said the Programme for Government was "a compromise".
"That agreement should not be the starting point for yet more compromises," he said. "I believe that the Greens have allowed Fianna Fáil to water down commitments."
However, Ray Ryan of Fingal Greens said members in his constituency organisation were "baffled" by the Dublin Mid-West motion of censure.
"I am excited by what is happening and I can't imagine what we might have achieved by the end of our period in Government," he told delegates.
Deputy Mary White from Carlow-Kilkenny rejected Mr Byrne's criticism that the elected representatives needed to "pull their socks up".
Praising Green Ministers, Cllr Tom Kivlehan said they had to "build on strong foundations" because civil servants are "often the biggest stumbling block that Ministers have to face".
Dublin Mid-West TD Paul Gogarty disagreed with the motion of censure put forward by his constituency organisation, but he also disagreed with the amendment commending the party's performance. "Reject the motion [ of censure]. It is too soon to tell. But also reject the amendment. It is too early for smugness," said Mr Gogarty, who criticised the failure to meet education budget targets.