Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has said a €10 billion capital investment in public transport is central to his party's manifesto.
In an interview on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr O’Gorman said the Green Party was the “key driver” of the success of the government over the past five years.
“We have been able to implement key policies – so we have been able to cut the cost of public transport for everybody and add new bus routes.
“But we have to go further and that is why central to our manifesto is that commitment for €10 billion investments in public transport so we can roll out those big projects like Dart+, like Metrolink, like metropolitan rail, and continue the rollout of Local Link services in rural Ireland as well.”
Meanwhile, Mr O’Gorman refuted suggestions that the default position of the Green Party was always to “threaten to walk” if they “don’t get their way.”
He said that the opposite was the case with the Green Party being part of a four-and-a-half year “stable government.”
“I think for a small party to be able to come of four-and-a-half years with that strong track record of delivering the things that we got written in to the programme for government is really important. And that shows what sort of coalition partner we are.”
It comes after the Green Party said the coalition almost fell during negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the establishment of a multibillion euro climate and nature investment fund in 2023.
The €3.15 billion State investment fund will be put into infrastructure, climate and nature projects until 2030, sourced from windfall corporation tax profits.
Green Minister of State Ossian Smyth said the Government “nearly collapsed” over Fianna Fáil’s position on establishing the fund, which was eventually agreed as the Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund.
The alleged row occurred when the Greens were led by Eamon Ryan but his predecessor Mr O’Gorman claimed last week that it had been made clear that the fund was a “red line” for the party. He said the negotiations were a “tense” and “very difficult time”.
Mr Smyth also said he was prepared to walk out of Government at a later stage over the threat of repeated delays to the land hoarding tax – which the Greens see as an essential measure to combat the housing crisis.
