MANIFESTO LAUNCH:THE GREEN Party will have to hold another special convention to decide its attitude to the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley told a news conference in Dublin yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of the party’s local election manifesto, he said that, under party rules, a majority of two-thirds at a special convention would be required for the party to take a stance on the treaty.
At a special convention in January last year, party members voted by 63 per cent to 37 per cent in favour of the treaty but this was just short of the required two-thirds majority and, as a result, the Green Party took no stance in the subsequent referendum campaign and members were allowed to campaign either for or against.
“We would have to have a debate in relation to the concessions that Ireland has now received, any changes, any protocols, and it will be debated in a very thorough manner and a decision will be reached,” Mr Gormley said.
Such a convention would probably be called by the party’s national executive council. The second referendum is expected in late September or early October.
Commenting on the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll, which showed satisfaction with the Government down to 10 per cent, the Greens down by one point to 3 per cent and his own personal rating down from 29 per cent to 25 per cent, Mr Gormley said it was not “totally surprising”.
“Given the fact that we have had four budgets, in effect, over the last period of time, people are feeling pain and people are angry. That is totally understandable.
“But what I’m saying today is that, if people step back from that emotion and begin to think about the future of our country and look at the performance of our candidates and our councillors at local level, I think they will be convinced that the Greens are doing the best job possible, under difficult circumstances.”
Asked if he was saying to people that they should “blame Fianna Fáil, not us”, he replied: “No, what I’m saying is, quite simply, concentrate on our record, we are the Green Party, we’re a party that has done well in government in our own respective portfolios.”
He continued: “There are three weeks left in this campaign and three weeks is actually an eternity in politics.” Asked if the Greens could “do business” with Fine Gael at some stage in the future, he replied: “We’ve always said that we would talk to other parties, always.”
He found it “sometimes very difficult to understand” the distinction drawn between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. “I don’t see a huge difference ideologically at all.” But he added: “Any other arrangement at the moment is simply hypothetical.”
Asked what was the “bottom line” for the Greens in the current Government, he replied: “The bottom line is the implementation of the programme for government. If our partners in Government were to refuse to implement an aspect of the programme which we felt was extremely important then, of course, we would have to reconsider our position.
“But that wouldn’t be for me to make a judgment on, it would be for the party members.”