The horse-trading continues
So, in the aftermath of the Irish General Election, Bertie has been courting the Green Party in order to put together his grand coalition involving PDs and various Independents. After a week of negotiations, there is still no resolution and the Greens appeared to throw their toys from the pram and walk away from a shot at Government. However, this morning's Sunday Independent is hinting that Bertie himself may intervene with the negotiations and hammer out a deal with the Greens' boss, Trevor Sargent.
It would appear that he has the PDs in the bag, with Mary Harney holding onto the Health portfolio and a couple or three ex-TDs being appointed to the Seanad.
If I were member of the Green Party, I'd have to wonder how a party with just two TDs (Progressive Democrats) gets a major seat at the cabinet table and a few seats in the Seanad, whereas the Greens - with 6 TDs - are offered one portfolio (Environment being the obvious choice). Could we see another ministry headed by a Green TD? And how many Fianna Fail noses would b put out of joint by this move?
Or will Bertie press ahead and form a government without the Greens? He could do this, based on the numbers, relying on support from PDs and various Independents. However, this wouldn't be hugely stable, and it would involve appeasing some very local demands from the Independents.
The Dail sits on Thursday to elect a Taoiseach - we may well see a FF/PD/Green agreement in place by then. Bertie is quite experienced a pulling the rabbit out of the hat.
