The green dilema?

So with John O'Donaghue out, fiannia fail's popularity at its lowest ever and an ever increasing air of discontent (especially from the trade union market), all eyes turn to the green party. This Saturday, 500 members of the party will meet to vote on the reviewed programme for government- if they say no, then we get to go the polls

The greens have a rule, when taking a vote they need two-thirds of the attendees to pass a motion. That means that if you're against it you only need one third plus one to block a motion (nicknamed vote by minority by detractors). Now while party leaders (Gormley & Ryan) will obviously be pushing a yes vote but will they be able to convince enough of the party. From my experience, the green party membership hails from all over ranging from eco business types to far-left hippies and everything in between. Therefore reaching that 2/3s majority will be an uphill struggle.

The greens have always stood by the belief that they can achieve more in government that out of it. They seem this government as their one chance to put their policies into action, even at the expense of their popularity. The question that the greens need to ask themselves is how much more of their popularity can they rise in pursuit of their ideals.

The greens promised to be the watchdog of this government but the public only see them as biffo's lapdog. The greens have a chance to kill this government but risk not being able to implement their policies anytime soon. It'll be interesting to see how the next few days pan out