The Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said many Green Party voters will be “bitterly disappointed” to see the party entering government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
A programme for government is expected to be finalised today, 18 weeks after the general election.
The leaders of the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party will meet again this afternoon “very good progress” was made in the talks last night.
The deal is expected to include a 7% annual reduction in emissions, a huge increase in spending on cycling, walking and public transport.
Once the deal is signed off, it will go the memberships of all three parties for approval.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Deputy Doherty said many Green Party members will not be happy at the thought of supporting Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
“You can’t read the minds of every person but I am arguing very strongly that I believe a sizable section, if not the majority, of the Green Party voted not to put Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael back into government together,” he said.
“But look, it is up to the membership of the Green Party now and I think many of them will share our view that this is not the mandate for change that they got.”
He said Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have done all they can to keep the reins of power away from Sinn Féin in the weeks since the election.
“At the very outset, in trying to deny the change that took place, they made damn sure that they would exclude not only Sinn Féin from government but Sinn Féin from even the chance of talks about government to make sure that they held on to the kind of power that they have shared between them for the last hundred years,” he said.
“That is what this is all about and, unfortunately, the Green Party has now decided, at a leadership level anyway, to go in and prop these two centre right parties up.
“That is their choice. They will live by that; they will have to defend that, if that is the decision of the membership, but my point is that I think the hundreds of thousands of people who voted not only for Sinn Féin but for parties of change will be bitterly disappointed that this could potentially be the outcome.”
The Green Party Eamon Ryan arrives at Government Buildings, 14-06-2020. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNewsHe insisted that there are still other options that can deliver a government that does not include wither Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
“The core of this is that these two parties can’t be trusted,” he said.
“I say that, not just for the sake of it, but because when you look at their past record over the last four years, they have not delivered for workers and families, they have not delivered on housing, they have not delivered on health and they have not delivered in terms of the cost of living crisis.”
You can listen back to the full interview here:
