Time to oust FF/PD coalition from power?The Green Party will now be working towards bringing real positive change to any alternative Government? - declares Sargent

?At our Annual Convention this year the party membership decided that the party will contest the next general election as an independent party without any voting pacts with other parties. So over the next 20 months we will be emphasising the importance of getting rid of this FF/PD government but, more importantly, will be working toward bringing real positive change to any alternative government.?

?It is quite clear that FF has no desire to be in government with the Greens as they know we would expose their pandering to vested interests.?

?This Government have made us more unequal and made our future more uncertain. Their transport, energy, housing and planning policies are all geared toward big business interests. Last year Bertie Ahern was a socialist, this year he is dressing up as a social capitalist. Yet the evidence shows that Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fáil and the PD Fianna Fáil party have worked in exactly the opposite direction. This coalition continues to consistently promote the interests of builders and developers ahead of the community.?

?The evidence also shows that this coalition prefers to be on the side of Shell right through the Corrib pipeline planning process rather than listen to the community. And remember the coalition?s lack of care for the vital role of parenting within the community was embedded into the tax system with the introduction of individualisation.With tax breaks for the wealthy and saving schemes which could only be availed of by those who have the cash to spare - is it any wonder that they have created a less equal Ireland?

This is George Bush neo ? conservative economics where the increase in economic growth figures are paraded as a totem of their success. What they fail to realise is that people measure their lives by broader measures ? measures which reflect the quality of their lives in their communities. The FF/PD coalition are so smugly pleased with the boom ? a boom which is a result of so many societal and historical factors working together - that they cannot see the future events which now threaten this very economic success.?

?Look at all the broken promises, the rip-offs, the corruption. They say we are a low tax economy but look at their u-turns after getting elected - the stealth taxes, the appalling waste in public expenditure, the massive motorway overruns, the massive increases in ESB and gas prices with petrol prices continuing to rise. This coalition has moved national debt to a personal debt. We are saddled with a coalition which is a builders and developers charter building houses and motorways with hours spent in traffic jams where we pay motorway tolls to sit in a car park with no decent public transport choices. This Government couldn?t even join up the Luas.

?The Green Party are now planning to get into government so that we can introduce real measures for change which improve quality of life. This means providing a better economic future by investing the right way in health, education, transport, energy, housing and planning. People now need a real choice. Over the coming months we will be sending a strong message to the electorate outlining why any alternative Government will need a strong Green presence.?

Green Party Chairman, John Gormley TD said, ?Over the last week, Michael McDowell has been given ample opportunity to engage in an anti-green rant. Fantasy and half truths have been dressed up in soundbites and spin but there has been little substance to his points. It reveals a man who is deeply panicked about the growing irrelevance of his own party, a party that promised to keep an eye on Fianna Fail but subsequently became indistinguishable from them. This PD/FF neo conservative entity has been bad for this country and has no solutions for the problems that ordinary people face. They have reneged on promise after promise.?

?Where the Greens have been in power, in Finland or more recently in Germany, they have delivered. Increasingly, people are realizing that the issues we have highlighted over the years ? be it climate change or energy security ? are more topical than ever. Our message is more relevant than ever. And we believe our common sense solutions will resonate with a disillusioned public.?

?The party?s Election Task Force will ensure that the party will be better prepared for this election than previous elections. We expect the coming session and year to provide us with a solid springboard into the election year, which we expect in 2007.?