Leadership:Dublin North TD Trevor Sargent has stepped down as head of the Green Party in line with his pledge to give up the leadership if the Greens decided to enter coalition with Fianna Fáil.
In advance of the decisive vote to enter coalition, he told the special debate at the Mansion House last night that he would honour his pledge to step down if the party approved the motion for coalition with Fianna Fáil.
A hugely popular figure in the party, Mr Sargent received a standing ovation when he began to speak and another one when he sat down. Even before the conference, his support was considered essential if the deal was to have any chance of securing the requisite two-thirds majority.
In his contribution to a highly emotional debate, he said the party had to "roll up its sleeves" and tackle the issue of climate change. In a carefully worded comment, he reportedly indicated that the Greens would get two senior and two junior ministries in the government, with four out of the six Green TDs becoming ministers, but he stressed that under the Constitution such appointments were the prerogative of the taoiseach.
Highlighting gains made during the negotiations with Fianna Fáil, he listed: the reorganisation of the Environmental Protection Agency; progress on insulation grants; progress on the issue of alleged "extraordinary rendition" flights through Shannon airport; an additional €350 million for education; and advances towards making Ireland free of genetically modified foods and organisms.
"This is our big chance to show we are good in government," he said, pointing out that the electorate had decided Fianna Fáil was the only party that could form a viable government.
According to sources inside the conference, which was held in private, Mr Sargent said the Green Party's future was more important than his own future as party leader, adding: "I am happy to step down and keep my commitment to the Irish people."
A contest to replace him in the leadership role is expected over the next month or so, although there may be party consensus on a successor.
Born in July 1960, Mr Sargent has been leader of the Green Party since 2001.
A longtime activist on environmental issues, he first joined the Greens in the early 1980s. For almost the first two decades of its existence, the Greens had no official leader and, at a special convention in Kilkenny in 2001, Mr Sargent became the first person elected to that position.
