Greens enter government

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Well, after a few hiccups the Greens are in, and approved by a thumping majority too. The party activists took the deal well and the opposition of Roger Garland in some ways shown how the Green movement has changed since he was the spearhead - whether for better or worse I can't tell beyond the seat count.

Among the various items in the agreed programme for government, the decision to force reopening of rail to Navan and to limit the Western Rail Corridor's Northern limit to Claremorris is a step in the right direction. The Electoral Commission, similar to Elections Canada I suppose, is also a good idea.

Trevor Sargent's decision to step down as leader and refuse a Cabinet seat is an interesting one - a nod to those in the party who didn't bargain for this arrangement, and Canadian readers might reflect that Peter McKay should have done likewise after the merger which betrayed the word he had previously given. From a tactical point of view it might be useful to have a senior figure not being sandbagged by the Civil Service to distract them from what is going on in their departments.

What can one say about the justification of the Shannon military flights? Worthy of the Jesuits. A lot of Green voters will not understand that one.

Now that Bertie will be sworn in as Taoiseach, the next question is how long will he remain before exiting in favour of Cowen?

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