The Green Party met with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on Thursday evening for the first round of talks aimed at devising a programme for government.
The parties are understood to have agreed the parameters of how the talks will proceed. The process is now expected to last until the end of the month before being put before the membership of each party for an expected postal ballot.
“We hope this will be the first of many meetings and all parties have agreed to keep this process confidential until it is completed,” a joint statement issued afterwards said.
The Green Party had earlier appointed deputy leader Catherine Martin to lead its team of five in the government formation talks.
Ms Martin voted against entering into talks on coalition with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil but said previously that she will engage “in good faith” with the talks process.
Also on the Green Party negotiating team are Ossian Smyth, Roderic O’Gorman, Neasa Hourgian and Marc Ó Cathasaigh. There will be a wider team of about 14 Green Party members who will feed into talks on different policy areas.
Fine Gael has been led so far by a negotiating team compromising Tánaiste Simon Coveney, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, Hildegarde Naughton and Minister for Business Heather Humphreys.
Seven tests
Internally, the Green Party has already agreed “seven tests” that any future coalition must pass if a government is to be formed. The party believes that any future coalition needs to place the battle against Covid-19 at the heart of its plans. The coalition must also be stable and offer a plan to “lead change at critical times”.
The party also wants to address the cost of living, develop a new jobs and recovery plan and implement a re-evaluated Sláintecare plan in a systematic way.
Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael want to develop a new social contract and with the Green Party find a way to deliver net zero emissions by 2050. One source on a negotiating team said that the framework document recently agreed between the two larger parties will be “the bible” on which the talks are based.
In that document, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil outlined 10 missions for any new government which included reviving the economy, finding a path towards universal healthcare, addressing the housing crisis, and creating a new green deal.
The Green Party has received written assurances from the other two parties that they are committed to reducing emissions targets by 7 per cent a year for the next decade although the path to achieving this will have to be set out in talks.
Outlining how he believes this target can be met, party leader Eamon Ryan said that any agreed deal would have to involve a land use plan and there must also be a social focus. “That involves re-wetting our bogs, new types of forestry, new types of farming, getting farmers paid properly so young people can go into farming.”
He said the second element will be around energy and he indicated he believes there is capacity for new offshore wind energy projects. Mr Ryan also said there should be a focus on the retrofitting of buildings to improve energy efficiency.
Separately Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have told the Social Democrats they are willing to agree “ringfenced funding” to implement Sláintecare, the all-party blueprint for the future of health services.
The leaders of the two bigger parties, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin, indicated they do not agree with the suspension of fiscal rules, as suggested by the Social Democrats.
In response to a specific question about the amount of future borrowing requirements, the two leaders say it is impossible to be accurate as “it is beyond anyone to estimate with any certainty what the economic situation will be in 2022 and 2023”.
