The Green Party is facing an interesting challenge in the Lisbon Treaty. Voting in favour of the treaty, which many see as a thinly disguised European constitution mark two, will be a bitter pill for many dedicated Green voters to swallow.
Will they grimace and gulp it down this Saturday? Or gag in the attempt?
It depends on a number of factors. The first and most important is how far the justification given by the Greens for going into government can be made to stretch. The Greens were adamant from the start that they were not going to be Fianna Fáil's moral watchdogs. They had seen that tactic backfire for the Progressive Democrats, who had claimed the moral high ground so often that they had permanent altitude sickness.
No, the Greens are in government for one reason only - to push through as much of the Green agenda as possible, with the most important issue being climate change.
To a large degree, even the Irish media have accepted the Green's rationale for going into government. Attempts to hound them into denouncing Fianna Fáil are half-hearted at best. The Irish public is so bored by the tribunals that they are not baying for Bertie's blood, either. Things are a little different on the Opposition benches. There is a great deal of anger at being cheated of the opportunity to go into government, and much of it is focused on the Greens.
Not unsurprisingly, much of the attack concentrates on the perception that the Greens will swallow any compromise for the sake of staying in government. Watching Green Party members in public dispute with each other, for example in the pages of this newspaper, is very satisfying for the Opposition. However, the Green Party has a curious dynamic, where with the exception of the most fundamentalist of fundies, a great deal of internal dissent is tolerated. It remains to be seen whether that tactic worked better for them when their chances of being in government were as remote as the possibility of Michael O'Leary becoming an evangelist for the banning of air travel.
The most important factor is whether the compromises involved in going into government will deliver enough real change to justify the move. Certainly, there is a consensus that Eamon Ryan and John Gormley are both highly competent and have a remarkable work ethic. Their Fianna Fáil colleagues, who seem to have been around forever, look jaded by comparison.
Already, there have been significant changes that would not have happened if the Greens had not gone into government. The language of their Cabinet colleagues has altered, and it is now clear that the green agenda is viewed by them as reasonable and mainstream. Given that many Fianna Fáilers saw the future of the planet as strictly a worry for those who knit their own sandals, this is progress.
Will it translate into policy? There have been some promising beginnings, including budget increases for Green initiatives. The changes in VRT have focused attention very quickly on the negative impact of our car-dependent culture.
The replacement of incandescent lightbulbs is a good move. Yet nothing is ever simple. Although in theory the number of lightbulbs entering landfill should drastically reduce due to the longer life span of energy-saving bulbs, the fact that such bulbs are potential polluters has been seized upon gleefully by the Opposition. Indeed, every possible flaw has been subjected to the most negative spin possible.
It is also noticeable that the Greens being in power has altered not just the language of their Cabinet colleagues, but intensified the level of eco-friendly references in advertising. Whether it remains at the level of "greenwashing" - the application of positive green vibes to dubious products - remains to be seen.
There are greater challenges ahead, including incinerators that won't go away, fractious unions and Government colleagues who remain committed to a model of development where sustainability is far from the highest priority. Not to mention the toll on the personal and family lives of the most prominent Greens, a dilemma that is arguably more difficult to resolve for a party that has always prioritised family and community.
There is also the question of how important the Lisbon Treaty will be for voters outside the Green Party. An MRBI poll last November showed that the majority are undecided, with only 25 per cent having decided to vote Yes. Traditional supporters of the EU such as Fine Gael members were decidedly muted in their support. However, a poll that is far in advance of a real poll will only give the sketchiest of ideas as to what the actual outcome will be.
Irish people were much less likely to vote against an EU treaty when we were poorer and more beholden to the EU. Now that there is a great deal of nervousness about the state of the economy, will we remain fervent Europhiles? There is a significant if small minority of voters who are adamantly opposed to the current institutional form of the EU. They see it as bureaucratic, undemocratic and arrogant. It is undeniable that there is a huge gulf between the average European and the institutions that influence so much of our lives.
It was fascinating to see the ambivalence even of Green Party Senator Déirdre de Búrca, who is supporting the new treaty.
She candidly admitted that many of the concerns about the EU remain, such as the democratic deficit, the increased militarisation and the adoption of a neo-liberal economic model.
The Greens seem to be content that climate change trumps all other issues. It is easy to see the appeal of the EU commitment to positive change, in stark contrast to the resistance of the US.
Ironically, the Greens will have to bet on the fact that the Lisbon Treaty is not a big enough deal to most Irish voters to provoke a backlash against the Greens for selling out. In short, they will be hoping for apathy. Yet apathy is the greatest enemy of progress on the issue that the Green Party is most passionately committed to - the threat of climate change.
Makes you wonder if someone wished for the Greens that apparently pleasant but deliberately double-edged wish of the Chinese for an enemy: may you live in interesting times.