Not for the first time, government business was parked and interrupted this week because of internal wrangling within the Green Party.
Yet again, the third party in the Coalition has raised a question as to their suitability for high office.
Their presence in this government has been undermined from the start by the strong opposition from within their own ranks about even being there.
The Dáil was on Tuesday due to debate for just 55 minutes and pass the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or Ceta, signed between the European Union, including Ireland, and Canada.
When it appeared on the Dáil schedule last Friday, it’s understood TD Neasa Hourigan contacted other TDs and leadership to ask how the Bill had been scheduled.
Should we give #CETA some actual Oireachtas oversight, maybe a proper debate and committee scrutiny?
“If the arguments are good and there is no legal issue, what’s the problem with giving it proper oversight?’ pic.twitter.com/hLLOW6TQAt
— Neasa Hourigan TD (@neasa_neasa) December 18, 2020
Ms Hourigan did not receive a response and then contacted the party on Saturday morning informing them she would not be voting for the Bill, after which she was contacted by party whip Marc Ó Cathasaigh.
Some Green ministers at this point contacted the Government asking for a delay to the vote.
Ceta cuts tariffs and makes it easier to export goods and services, benefitting people and businesses in both the EU and Canada.
It entered into force provisionally on September 21, 2017, meaning most of the agreement now applies.
National parliaments in EU countries, including the Oireachtas, need to approve Ceta before it can take full effect.
While both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have backed Ceta since the start, the Green Party has been vocal opponents to the deal going back several years.
In 2017, Eamon Ryan, the Green Party leader, was a noted critic of Ceta.
In July of that year, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Dublin, Opposition TDs including the Greens blasted Ceta as a “rotten agreement” that undermines democracy and must be rejected by the Dáil.
Speaking at a protest outside Government Buildings, politicians from the Green Party, Sinn Féin, and People Before Profit said the deal will compromise laws to protect health, food standards, the environment, worker’s rights, and the rule of law.
The main issue of contention was the Investor Court Settlement (ICS) system to allow foreign corporations to sue governments in a special arbitration system where state action impact on companies profitability or expectations of profit.
Ryan said that the ICS system would give big business power over governments and our courts and that the deal offers no certainty of protection of environmental rights.
“The way it was conducted, the way it was negotiated, the way that it was really centred around lobbying by big corporate interests rather than the public interest is wrong.
“We need to negotiate trade and global cooperation in a better way and the EU should be standing for that,” he said.
During the Programme for Government talks in June, sources in the talks say that Ceta was certainly mentioned but it was not an issue the Greens like Hourigan “dug in on” nor did it need to be escalated to the leaders as other contentious issues like housing were.
We know that the Cabinet three weeks ago approved the tabling of the Ceta debate, a body at which four Green ministers attend, and no issue was raised.
But on Monday, Eamon Ryan told to a clearly annoyed Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar that he was not able to get it through his party.
Martin and Varadkar made it clear that both their parties have backed Ceta since 2017 and wanted it approved by the Dáil.
Their annoyance stemmed from the fact that they had been previously assured by Ryan that his party would back its passage.
Martin and Varadkar reluctantly agreed to a delay until January, having already agreed to a deferral on this issue in October.
The matter was the subject of a fiery meeting of the Green Party parliamentary that night, not helped by Mr Ryan’s absence.
While he was meeting with the other party leaders, as my colleague Aoife Moore reported, his own TDs “had an almighty row” over the Bill, according to some of those who were present.
Some of those present told the Irish Examiner that the meeting between TDs and Senators became fraught, in which TDs who had issues with the Bill were labelled “delusional” by colleagues and those in favour of the Bill argued that whether Ceta came under the “trade deals” Programme for Government was “a matter of opinion.”
The Green Party’s position on Ceta specifically has not changed or been superseded since it was agreed at the party convention by a motion that the party “will work for the rejection of Ceta in Ireland and the European Parliament” in 2016.
It was noted by Green Senator Pauline O’Reilly that the Ceta issue was raised at a meeting of the parliamentary party as far back as November 13. However, some TDs argued it was not mentioned there would be a vote on the issue in December.
Then on Thursday night, it emerged that two-thirds of elected Green Party councillors had voted that the party should have a national convention on Ceta.
Four Ceta motions are going to the Green Party policy council this weekend, including one by the local government group of councillors, who needed a two-thirds majority in order to submit the motion.
It has been clear for some time that Ryan is not in control of his own party and while he says he welcomes the diversity of views from within his own ranks, such rancour is now having a more profound impact on the working of Government.
As one Fine Gael minister told me: “What do they expect? Do they think the EU is going to re-open a three-year-old deal just to appease Neasa Hourigan. I don’t think so.”
The failure to spot the danger internally before last week is yet another blot on Ryan’s already chequered copybook as leader.
He either should have flagged the issue to his fellow leaders much earlier as to avoid this week’s antics or had the authority to convince his members of his change of heart on Ceta.
Hourigan has been among the most negative about the Green’s presence in government and some have suggested this is part of her exit strategy.
Either she, Costello and those other Greens bend the knee and row in behind their leader’s support for Ceta, or they stay true to their previous beliefs and leave the party.
Neither outcome is positive for Ryan.
When pressed, the minister pointed the finger at Ryan.
When I put that assertion to another minister, the curt response was: “Leadership, what leadership.”
The rigours of being in government are clearly proving too much for some Greens and unless they resolve their issues, the stability of the entire government will be undermined.
