It's Green for go . . .
GIVEN the size of the positive vote required under Green Party rules - two thirds of the delegates - it was a huge ask, in a very limited amount of time. But in the end it was green for go in the Mansion House last night as the Green Party conference voted to approve the programme for government.
Remembering the trouble Labour used to have years ago getting even a simple majority at special conferences before going into government, the task facing the Greens was daunting. But to their credit, they took the right decision, right for them and right for the rest of us as well.
We can now abandon all those sarcastic jokes about the brown rice brethren who always say no. We can drop all those tired old clichés about flaky idealists with little understanding of the real world. The Greens could not have come of age at a more opportune moment in our history, given the challenges we face.
Over the past week we saw them show an impressive level of professionalism. The characterisation of them as muddled muesli-eaters no longer applies. Looking through the programme the Green leadership negotiated with Fianna Fail, there is no evidence of any failure to connect with reality.
There is much in the document that will seem worthwhile from any perspective. For a party with only six seats wrestling over policy with a party with 78, it is a significant achievement. The document may be aspirational and short on specifics, but it puts a green hue across the programme for the next government that many people who never vote Green will welcome.
The booming economy has been wonderful. But we all know that it has come at a price . . . in congestion and pollution and a growing concern about our quality of life. We all know that this has to be tackled and, in the wider context, that Ireland must begin to play its part in tackling global warming.
That concern is echoed across this programme and on that basis alone the entire document deserved approval from even the most radical Greens at yesterday's conference. For a significant number of them, who could not let realism sully their idealism, it wasn't enough. But thankfully, they were few.
The agreement to establish a Climate Change Commission will keep the issue to the fore. The target of an annual 3pc reduction in Irish greenhouse gas emissions will focus efforts. And so will the annual report on meeting the targets, a sort of carbon budget every year before the real budget.
The plan to accelerate the use of renewable energy sources for electricity, heat and transport is also impressive. The undertaking is to have one third of all electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020. A price support scheme will encourage investment in wave and tidal power and an offshore windfarm will be developed in partnership with Europe.
There is going to be real bite as well, with a carbon levy to be introduced during the lifetime of the government. All the good intentions in the world won't change our behaviour as fast as a carbon tax. And there is a wide range of other energy-related commitments, on building standards, home heating, insulation, electricity use and so on.
On transport, there are interesting proposals nationwide. There are commitments to ease the pressure in schools. And there are moves to put more equity into taxation and to use the tax system to encourage environmental awareness.
All of this is admirable. It wasn't enough, of course, for some of the more radical Greens, partly because of the lack of movement on two big issues . . . hospital co-location and Shannon stopover. The fact is that behind the pious phrasing there is to be no real change on either. Co-location will go ahead and the gardai can already inspect US planes if they wish.
But the Greens voted the deal through and they were right to do so. Given the way the world is going, green issues were going to be tackled by the next government whether the Greens were in there or not.
Better to be on the inside with influence - and their specialist knowledge - than outside and powerless.
