TALKS BETWEEN Fianna Fáil and the Greens on the new programme for government are likely to continue into next week, according to sources from both parties who are close to the process.
The review of the existing programme involving negotiation teams from both parties got under way yesterday morning and continued for six hours, before breaking up just before 6pm.
According to sources on both sides, the two sessions held yesterday were detailed and proposed major changes to the existing programme, in place since the Government was formed in June 2007.
“The talks were tough, but we are making progress,” said one source.
Another said that both parties had mapped out a very serious timeframe, and that yesterday’s exchanges were civilised but also signalled some very serious issues between the parties.
Talks will continue today and have also been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Both sides said that it was certain that they will continue into next week.
The Greens, who have six deputies, are seen to be in a stronger negotiating position now than they were two years ago because the Government’s voting strength in the Dáil has fallen by three since then and the Progressive Democrats have ceased to operate as a political party.
The three senior members of Fianna Fáil who form its team are: Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey and Mary Hanafin. Eamon Ryan, Mary White and Dan Boyle are conducting the talks on behalf of the Green Party.
Minister for Health Mary Harney has also submitted a document listing her priorities for her area and for other areas of Government policy.
Among the key demands of the Greens are reversals of recent education cuts, tax increases, Dáil reform and a universal health system, as well as an animal welfare Bill that would ban hare coursing.
The party’s position paper in the negotiations, published in The Irish Times yesterday, also calls for a massive shift of emphasis from investment in road building to public transport initiatives.
Speaking in advance of the negotiations, Green Party leader John Gormley made no comment on the document. However, he defended the need for his party to vote on the programme.
“We are an extremely democratic grassroots party and we take pride in that.
“There is total openness, total transparency and that is the way it has been and that is the way it always will be,” he said.
Turning to the negotiations, he accepted that they may at times prove difficult.
“I think both parties are insistent on the need for real reform of our economy and of society. And I am confident as a result of this renegotiated programme for government that we will get on to a new transformational stage in terms of this Government and that is what is required.
“I believe it can happen, it will happen but you have to appreciate the negotiations themselves are taking place in private and have to remain private,” he said.
He added that priority issues such as a greener and more sustainable economy would be part and parcel of the programme. That, he said, would meet with the approval of his party’s members.