Government formation and the Greens

Sir, – To persuade the Greens to enter talks, Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin said they were “happy to confirm that a new government comprising our three parties will commit to developing measures to achieve an average 7 per cent per annum reduction in annual emissions for the next decade”.

But when the Greens propose the measures necessary to address this pressing existential crisis, to reach that 7 per cent reduction, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil refuse each one. The Greens are criticised for not having a plan to reduce emissions, but what is meant is that they don’t have a plan that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil find acceptable. Because for them, roads must be built, agriculture must remain unchanged, and all things must carry on as before. The Green Party is told it has an unprecedented opportunity that it cannot turn down. The opportunity to implement Fine Gael’s manifesto? – Is mise,

RAY CUNNINGHAM,

Walkinstown,

READ SOME MORE

Dublin 12.

A chara, – I see former that former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes in your letters page of June 9th is selflessly giving counsel to the Green Party on how to best secure their interests in their negotiations with his old comrades.

It really must be true that everyone’s a Green these days. – Yours, etc,

EOGHAN McMAHON,

Monkstown,

Co Dublin.

A chara, – Frank Schnittger doesn’t “know anyone who thinks that whether Catherine Martin or Eamon Ryan is the Green Party leader is a matter of national importance or urgency right now” (Letters, June 8th).

Well, in the particular circumstances we find ourselves in, I think it is a matter of some national importance.

It is generally agreed that in the election back in February the electorate voted quite decisively in favour of change. The party that got the most votes was led by a woman and the three parties that performed below expectations were all led by men, and in at least two of those cases by men who have been around for quite some time.

I think the presence of Catherine Martin as the third pillar of the new government’s leadership would at least take the “old boys” look off the three-headed all-male alternative. – Is mise,

JOHN GLENNON,

Hollywood,

Co Wicklow.