Irish Greens hold six seats - may enter government

We've recently seen the Scottish Greens take a pivotal role in the new parliament and it looks like the Irish Green Party (Comhaontas Glas) may be about to go one better and take cabinet posts. The Greens held all six of their seats, while other smaller parties (Progressive Democrats, Sinn Fein, Socialist) and independents all lost seats. Green leader Trevor Sargeant has ruled out a formal coalition with Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fáil but may be able to find an arrangement that guarantees progress on Green priorities and may even end up with a seat at the cabinet table.

The Green's Election broadcast (a better quality version is on RTE) was much praised and is well worth three minutes of your time.

PRE-ELECTION ANALYSIS FROM RTE (Irish National Broadcaster)

Six years ago the Green Party did not even have a leader. Now, depending on the numbers game after the election, a Green leader could even be the next Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister).

Talk about climate change!

The scenario of a Green Party Tánaiste, of course, would only come into play if the party entered a coalition with Fianna Fáil.

Trevor Sargent, the party leader, has said that while he would not lead the Greens into a coalition with Fianna Fáil, he would consider serving in Cabinet.

That may be considered a strange position to adopt but these are different times for the Greens.

Since dropping the notion of collective leadership in 2001, the party has been on a curve of increasing professionalism. That evolution saw the party go from one seat in the 28th Dail to six in the now dissolved 29th Dáil.

The party has continued to adopt modern campaigning methods and techniques and these, allied to heightened global awareness of environmental issues, the impact of the Al Gore movie and local issues such as the contamination of the Galway water supply have all combined to give momentum the Greens as they hit the campaign trail.

Most political pundits now accept the party will certainly hold its six seats and that it could even double it to 12 seats, perhaps even a few more if it gets all the right breaks.

Even if the Greens do not hold the position of Tánaiste after the election the party looks a sure bet to have ministers at the Cabinet table, whatever the shape of the next government.