Anti-war protest:Several dozen anti-war and environmental activists protested outside the Green Party conference at the Mansion House yesterday, urging members to vote against the proposal by the leadership to enter coalition with Fianna Fáil.
On their way into the meeting, Green Party members were urged to vote down the deal, with chants of "No sell-out on Shannon" and "No sell-out on Tara".
The feelings of most protesters were summed-up by long-time activist Gearóid Kilgallen who said: "Talk about a volte-face! Talk about selling the pass! Talk about signing your own political death warrant!"
Another picketer said a Green activist told him she had "cried" the previous night but was still going to vote for the deal, "because we can't change things from the outside".
TaraWatch spokesman Vincent Salafia said the Greens would be committing "political suicide" by going into government "without ensuring the M3 motorway was re-routed to save Tara".
Richard Boyd Barrett of the Socialist Workers' Party, who came close to winning a Dáil seat in DúLaoghaire in the general election, said entering a coalition with FF without ending the use of Shannon by the US military on their way to Iraq would be "a tragic betrayal of the anti-war movement and many of those who voted for the Green Party".
Mike Youlton, joint chairman of the Irish Anti-War Movement said: "I am very disappointed . . . We worked very closely with the leadership and the rank and file of the Greens since 2003 on the issue of Shannon and Irish neutrality.
"Trevor Sargent, John Gormley and Patricia McKenna often spoke at our meetings. As recently as May 22nd, we had a message from Mr Gormley assuring us that the Green Party would always have the issue of Shannon in the forefront of their political agenda.
Anti-War Ireland urged Green Party members to vote down "this shameful deal".
"The alternative is to have your party co-equally responsible for the US military presence at Shannon. In such circumstances, the Greens will have blood on their hands . . . If you oppose the mass murder of men, women and children in the Middle East, then vote against it."
