Laois Offaly Green Party Senator looks forward to 'tremendously exciting time' in Government

The Green Party will bring life back to towns and villages, deliver for the Midlands and address the climate emergency if they go into Government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the party's Laois Offaly senator has pledged.

In a statement, Senator Pippa Hackett welcomes and strongly endorses the Programme for Government agreed by negotiators from the three parties in recent weeks.

“This is by the far the best opportunity we have ever seen for Ireland to lead the way on addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency. We worked well with both parties during the negotiations, and all three of us agreed that we needed to embark on an ambitious programme to address concerns not only in climate and biodiversity, but in important areas such as housing and health. It is a massive document, and is reflective of the efforts and commitments from all three parties to deliver something transformative. I would recommend everyone take the opportunity to read it, or at least the chapters relevant to themselves," she said.

The Senator who fell just short of winning a Dáil seat in Laois Offaly believes the agreement delivers for the two counties and the Midlands.

“I am particularly pleased with what the Programme delivers for the Midlands region, for example, we will embark on an ambitions retrofitting programme which will begin in the midlands, and will initially target social housing, and homes dependant fossil fuels for heating, of which there are many in Offaly. The rewetting and restoration of peatlands in the midlands will be beginning shortly also, and the job opportunities this will bring will secure many jobs that would otherwise have been lost from the peat harvesting sector.  We will explore the possibility of establishing a Green Energy Hub in the Midlands, and utilise existing infrastructure in the region," she said.

Another plank in the plan is what it will do for rural areas and towns like Portlaoise and Tullamore.

"We will bring life back to our towns and villages by pursuing a Town Centres First policy to planning. And we will protect rural post offices by making them a central hub for a wide variety of community-focused services, and we will accelerate the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan; and we will greatly improve rural transport by, for example, tripling the number of passenger journeys by Local Link. We have secured a new LEADER rural development programme, and will support local food producers and the development of local food markets," she said.  

Finally, Senator Hackett said the Green Party had secured so many of its policies in the deal.

 “Thanks to our hard-working negotiators, the next five years will see the end of the inhumane Direct Provision system, a ban on the importation of fracked gas, a referendum on the right to housing, the accelerated implementation of Sláintecare, and a significant increase in the amount of social and affordable housing built in this country. This is a tremendously exciting time, and I look forward to what the next five years bring,” she said.

Sen Hackett, who has been her party's spokesperson on agriculture, is one of six Laois Offaly politicians returned to the Oireachtas (Dáil & Senate). The two Fianna Fáil TDs Sean Fleming and Barry Cowen have backed the deal as has Fine Gael's sole TD for the two counties Charlie Flanagan.