Gormley invites Opposition leaders to meeting
Updated: 22:14, Monday, 11 October 2010
Green Party leader John Gormley has offered an official invitation to the Opposition to meet to see if there is common ground on the economy.
Green Party leader John Gormley has offered an official invitation to the main Opposition parties to meet to see if there is common ground on the economy.
A one-page letter summarising the terms of proposed discussions has been sent to Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin this evening.
Mr Gormley accepted that it was a Green Party and not a Government initiative.
However, the Minister for the Environment denied that Taoiseach Brian Cowen was lukewarm about the notion.
Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar has said that it would be better for Ireland if most of the adjustments needed to fix the economy were made in the Budget, instead of spreading them out equally over four years.
The Labour Party has said it would study the invitation, while Sinn Féin said it would be happy to attend the meeting.
However, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said they would not allow themselves be drawn into a 'false consensus on a programme of savage cuts.'
Earlier, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan said people are looking for leadership, not just from Government, but from all the political leaders.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern also said he would welcome some sort of an agreement.
This morning a spokesman for Fine Gael described the proposal as a 'bottle of smoke'.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics last night, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said that while the Opposition was understandably cautious, he expected it to engage with the process in the national interest.
Representatives of some of the parties have already held meetings with officials in the Department of Financ
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