Government propped up by ‘right-wing’ independents a recipe for chaos – O’Gorman

By Cate McCurry, PA

A government propped up by Independent TDs could be a “recipe for absolute chaos”, according to the Green Party.

Leader Roderic O’Gorman warned of the consequences of having what he described as “right-wing independents” making up the government formation after Friday’s election.

Mr O’Gorman made the comments in Dublin on Tuesday, three days before the Irish public go to the polls.

Support for Independent candidates has jumped in recent times, as indicated in opinion polls.

“I think government propped up by right-wing independents, which if you look at the polls, and if you look at some of the music coming from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, seems to maybe be their priority. I think that would be a recipe for absolute chaos,” Mr O’Gorman said.

“We saw how government relying on independents was consistently undermined, was consistently not able to deliver key decisions between 2016 and 2020.

“We have the evidence of a government supported by independents, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t deliver. This government has delivered. The Green Party has delivered.

“We’ve delivered our policies, but we delivered stability as well in really difficult times.”

Mr O’Gorman repeated his party’s position that it is making a €10 billion investment in public transport a red line in any government formation talks.

He said that changes to emissions cannot be made unless there is major funding allocated to public transport.

“Any party that goes into negotiations, if they’re doing it in good faith, has to recognise there’s compromise,” he said.

“We’ve set out one clear red line, and that’s that 10 billion in public transport investments.

“We cannot make the change, we cannot make the cuts in our transport emissions, and we cannot give the Irish public the option of good public transport in Dublin, in cities across the country and in rural Ireland, if we aren’t prepared to allocate that funding.

“We’re saying €10 billion into public transport, that’s an absolute red line for the Green Party.”