Madam, - The Green Party is denying that Minister for the Environment John Gormley's acceptance that the State may need two incinerators is a U-turn on election commitments.
However, the facts speak for themselves. Only five months ago John Gormley was elected with significant support on the basis of his principled opposition to incineration. Only a year ago he stood with us at a protest outside a pro-incineration conference.
Speaking to the Dáil in June 2006 Mr Gormley said incineration was an "unsustainable technology". What has changed since then for the Green Party and Mr Gormley? At what point do the Greens stop disowning their previous principles to stay in power?
First to be shelved after the election was their stated principle of getting Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fáil and the PDs out of power. Then came the co-location of private hospitals on public land, the Shannon issue, the people of Rossport. Now it is incineration. Before the election, Mr Gormley publicly stated his support for the retention of cancer services in St Luke's Hospital, Rathgar. Has this also been shelved?
The Green Party and John Gormley are in a precarious position. Many of those who helped to elect them on the basis of their principles are watching with a sense of disbelief. The previous differences in policy between the Green Party and the mainstream parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are rapidly dissipating with each new compromise. Come the next election, will the Greens stand for anything radically different? - Yours, etc,
RORY HEARNE, People Before Profit Alliance, Christchurch, Dublin 8.