EXPOSING the links between big business and politics will be a priority for the Green Party in any negotiations on the formation of a government, the party's newly elected TD, Mr John Gormley, has said.
Mr Gormley, whose election to the Dail was finally confirmed on Saturday after eight days of counting and reexamining ballot papers in Dublin South East, said his party "will not close the door on anyone" seeking its support.
While the most important thing was to get Green Party policy implemented, the "starting point" for any new administration had to be "total openness and transparency", he said.
"The Green Party is very interested in looking at the links between big business and politics. We want that link exposed," he said, adding that this was particularly relevant in the light of Saturday's revelations in The Irish Times concerning relations between the outgoing Government and Independent Newspapers.
Mr Gormley said he and fellow Green TD Trevor Sargent would consult with the party before deciding whom they would vote for in the election of a Taoiseach.
He paid generous tribute to Mr Michael McDowell of the PDs, whose seat he had taken, saying while he "disagreed profoundly with Michael on many political matters, I also regarded him as one of the most capable deputies in Dail Eireann.
Full re-examination of the ballot papers had begun at noon on the Sunday before last after Mr Gormley had defeated his PD rival for the fourth and final seat by a 27 vote margin.
The process, involving legal representatives and scrutineers from both sides involved checking the validity of each of the 36,761 votes cast. By Thursday, 336 suspect papers had been identified.
The two teams were able to agree on the validity of all but about 30 of the papers, with the returning officer, Mr Brendan Walsh, having to make the final call on these.
Minutes before 1 p.m. Mr McDowell confirmed to reporters that he was conceding.
When transfers began to go his way early on the Sunday morning, he was already out for the count. "I had gone to bed and said `that's it' I had completely psyched my self up for it." By 3.30 a.m. he was up and heading for the count centre, having been informed of the dramatic turn in his favour.
As it turned out, he could have stayed in bed for a week.
. Mr Des O'Malley is understood to have been offered voting support by Fine Gael in the Dail if he wishes to be elected to the position of Ceann Comhairle on June 26th. The approach is believed to have been made by the chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Mr Phil Hogan, with a view to reducing Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats voting strength.
Similar approaches are understood to have been made by Fianna Fail to a number of Rainbow party TDs, including Mr Austin Deasy and Mr Seamus Pattison, in an effort to maximise Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats strength in a new Dail.
