Coalition ‘nearly collapsed’ over Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund

The Infrastructure, Climate and Nature (IFN) Fund was a “red line” issue for the Greens, Roderic O’Gorman has said, after a party colleague revealed that the Government nearly collapsed at the time.

Mr O’Gorman said the period of negotiations with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail in 2023 was a “tense” and “very difficult time”.

He did not deny that Green ministers had threatened to walk out of Government.

The 3.15 billion euro state investment fund is a vehicle for investing in infrastructure, climate and nature projects until 2030, sourced from windfall corporation tax profits.

It comes after a Green junior minister claimed that the Government almost collapsed due to Fianna Fail’s position on budget negotiations over the IFN Fund.

On Saturday, Green Party minister Ossian Smyth claimed Fianna Fail had to be dragged “kicking and screaming” on many environmental issues.

In a statement issued through the party press office, he said: “The last Government nearly collapsed because Fianna Fail wouldn’t agree to the 3.15 billion euro Climate and Nature Fund even though it will help businesses and state bodies cut emissions while also cutting their energy bills.”

Asked to expand on these comments on Thursday, Mr O’Gorman said that in 2023 the party had insisted on introducing the measure alongside the Future Ireland Fund, which is designed to protect against demographic changes associated with an ageing population.

He said: “When the Climate and Nature Fund was being devised in summer 2023, there was very significant tension in terms of that we have a very clear vision of how some of the surplus money would be used.”

He added: “There was strong pushback at time and the funds were meant to be agreed by July 2023 but we didn’t sign off on them because we weren’t happy with the commitments in the Climate and Nature Fund.”

The measures were later agreed over September and October.

Asked how close the Greens came to walking out of Government over the IFN Fund, Mr O’Gorman said: “It was a tense time. It was a very difficult time. We made it very clear this was a red line for us.”

He said the party at that time was led by Eamon Ryan, and would not comment on the former leader’s conversations with the coalition partners.

Pressed on the matter, Mr O’Gorman admitted he was abreast of the tensions in Government at the time but could not comment on the specific wording used to express the red-line position.

Asked if he was personally prepared to walk out of Government, he said: “I saw this as an essential element in making sure Ireland could meet its climate targets.”

Mr Smyth also revealed on Wednesday that he was prepared to quit the Government if a land hoarding tax was deferred again in Budget 2025.

Asked if a future coalition involving the Greens would be marked with similar threats, Mr O’Gorman said the tax is essential in the housing crisis and added: “It will be marked by standing by our principles and standing by our key policies.”

He said that stance shows the Greens will insist on policies agreed in the Programme for Government.

Mr O’Gorman was speaking at the launch of the party’s policy document on the climate for the General Election.

He offered a breakdown of the spending of the climate fund where 1.2 billion euro would finance a “massively expanded” home retrofit programme, 200 million euro would help businesses with their energy efficiency, 250 million euro would support the rollout of district heating, and 100 million euro would be allocated to new infrastructure to support offshore wind and microgeneration.

Also on Thursday, the Social Democrats said coalition parties had “wasted their opportunity to deal with climate action” and meet emission-reduction targets.

The party’s climate spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore said: “Our top priority when it comes to climate action is to revise the climate action plan to make sure that it meets our targets, that we have sufficient plans and measures and policies in place to meet our 51% climate target, and to avoid eight billion euro in fines from Europe if we do not, because that will be one of the ramifications for this country.”

Ms Whitmore said Social Democrats would have a five billion-euro climate fund ringfencing hundreds of millions of euro for offshore floating wind, install 500,000 solar panels on homes across the country, and introduce a minister for biodiversity.

She said the party would also “encourage” farmers to have a herd reduction.