Eamon Ryan: 'If Labour and Soc Dems were ambitious on climate, they'd be going into government'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : "I held my hand up ...
66% : We have 25 councillors now, and we have incredibly strong experience in government - in local, European and national government.
57% : I think, 'Jesus, we get to next week', whereas we have public funding this time and Oireachtas representation.
55% : We had a lot of public support.
51% : He acknowledges negotiations on government formation can be difficult, with much hinging on seat numbers - "but the numbers on climate side are so dramatic, and the ambition is needed so desperately that if you really were that ambitious, you'd be engaged in serious talks now not, what seems to me, not real engagement.
48% : "We had all-out war on that because I think the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform saw it as a bit of a grab, using our leverage to get money, a separate budget process," says Ryan.
47% : "While he complains about Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil tacking right, there were good relations with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and Fine Gael Taoiseach Simon Harris, "unlike in Germany, where colleagues couldn't agree what time of day it was".
44% : "Are we going to be more competitive by burning fossil fuels like importing LNG from the States or gas from Qatar or oil from Saudi Arabia?

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