Green Ireland
All the six members (TD’s) of the Green Party in the Irish Parliament – the Dáil Éireann (House of Deputies) – have lost their seats in the General Election held on Friday. The Greens were part of the ruling coalition with Fianna Fáil and suffer in the fallout of the economic debacle. While a Fine Gael led government may well be forced to question Ireland’s participation in the Euro (and the strongest card they have against Germany and France is precisely the threat to leave the Euro), Ireland will not be chained by the regressive policies of the Greens on GM crops, on uneconomic support of renewables and the fanatic opposition to oil. Enda Kenny will be the new Prime Minister (the Taoiseach) but to begin with he is going to have little room for manouevre with regard to the financial requirements and demands being made by the European Union and the IMF.
The primary counting is over and:
Fine Gael has become the largest party in the State, and Labour the second largest, in an historic election which has seen Fianna Fáil relegated to third place, and the Green Party wiped out. …. After a long and dramatic day, the voters have taken their revenge on the most unpopular government in the history of the State.
….. Fianna Fáil saw its first preference vote more than halved, down to just 17.4% – add to that a lack of transfers, and the party was quickly in serious trouble.
Fianna Fáil has only one TD in Dublin so far, Brian Lenihan – with an outside chance of Mary Hanafin joining him when the count in Dun Laoghaire resumes. But there are no Fianna Fáil TDs in Meath, Tipperary, Sligo, Leitrim or Roscommon.
Even worse news for the Greens, as all six of the party’s TDs lost their seats. …….
The big winner, though, is Fine Gael, which is set to lead the next Government. It appears Enda Kenny won’t have the numbers for a single party government – but he won’t be far off it – and who would have predicted that a few months ago.
Tags: Dáil Éireann, Enda Kenny, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party, Ireland
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