Dan Boyle: “Time to re-think program for Gov”

Dan Boyle spoke in Tralee today. The tone is very interesting. Here’s quotes pulled from the press release, my emphasis added…

“There are too many unresolved issues. Too many policy errors remain that have not been admitted to, areas where responsibility has not been taken. The policy of pump priming the property boom has been a disaster. The light touch regulation of our financial institutions has been a disaster. The awarding of excessive salary arrangements in the private sector, in the public sector and in political life has been a disaster.

A strength and a significant point of difference of The Green Party is that we treat politics differently.  We seek greater support in these elections to give us a stronger voice in government to help influence and bring about a new direction.”

More below the fold…

These mistakes need to be confronted so the Government can implement the difficult decisions which need to be taken. The policies pursued have not been Green Party policies, and yet we now find ourselves in government having to deal with their consequences.  We have a responsibility to the people we serve, the Irish people, to do so and we will play our part in getting this country out of the dreadful situation we find ourselves in. As a party we put our shoulder to the wheel and became, over the last two years, an effective and positive force within Government. I believe there is further room for the green agenda in Government, across all areas of Government business.  Our members and supporters expect full partnership in Government and we will redouble our efforts to achieve this, with our partners in Government.  We expect that the Green Party’s contribution to resolving the real problems of this country will be recognised further, inside and outside Government.

It is true that everything has changed utterly since this programme for government has been agreed. Most of the Green party elements of it have now been implemented.  It is a document that is in need of review, and the period after these elections would be an ideal opportunity to do that. The opposition parties make hay with the governments current difficulties. But their cynicism is hard to take.  It is easy to react negatively to everything this government does, without really having to put forward any alternative proposals.  It is also dishonest for these parties not to admit that if they were to be in government right now, they would have to take many of the same actions. Fine Gael and Labour may be saying similar things about what the government is doing, and the fact that they are saying remarkably differently things about each other, something that many commentators have yet to pick up on, and something that these parties will find hard to square with the voters.

Well, waddayez make of it? Is anyone seeing cracks when they read between the lines?