Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis “is a red line” for the party to enter formal coalition negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis “is a red line” for the party to enter formal coalition negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The party yesterday set out 17 commitments it is seeking from the two parties before taking part in any talks.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said it would require setting “a scale and level of ambition” to cut back on pollution levels and doing that in a way that delivers the “just transition”.
“So in terms of that broad biggest project that we think needs to be taken on, is absolutely a broad red line,” he said.
He said clarity is required to know the next government is going to change Ireland towards a “greener” country and that scientific advice is heeded.
Mr Ryan said separate to tackling climate change, the two other main aims would be the development of public housing and conversion to a public universal health system.
He said the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil document was “aspirational”, but that was not a bad thing as it sets out a broad outline.
Mr Ryan said for any parties going into government, it takes a couple of weeks to go through the full range of issues.
He said if Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are going to shift the nature of the economy towards public housing and public health they need to be specific about how they are going to do that.
Mr Ryan said rather than invest heavily in new road projects, he was calling for more investment in infrastructure for cycling and walking.
He also said in the current crisis more people are working from home and some of that should be kept on when the country returns to normal, as it would alleviate some of the congestion on our roads.
The Green Party leader also said he was confident any new government would follow through on the Climate Action plan.
“I would expect any new government to introduce that within the first 100 days,” he said.
“I take that as a given and I think the other parties have agreed that. I don’t see any problem introducing that. The question is what is the scale of ambition of change.”