Galway's most prominent Green Party member, Cllr Niall O Brolcháin, has said he will back the Lisbon treaty and campaign for a 'yes' vote in the forthcoming referendum.

Cllr O Brolcháin attended the Green Party's national conference over the weekend, at which a majority of the party voted to support the treaty. However, the required two-thirds majority was not reached and the party now has no official policy position.

"What did come across was that the Green Party as a whole is a Europhile party and very supportive of the EU. Everyone was really at pains to suggest that," said Cllr O Brolcháin.

Individual party members, including Government ministers John Gormley and Eamonn Ryan, will be free to campaign however they wish in relation to the Treaty, while the party's overall position is one of supplying information, according to Cllr O Brolcháin.

While he said there were "very well informed speakers on both sides", Cllr O Brolcháin said his own personal position was pro-treaty.

"Personally, I would be 51 per cent yes, but it was a yes. There are aspects of the Treaty I'd be critical of, but on balance I would say yes. That's nothing to do with the leadership position, it's for a number of reasons."

Cllr O Brolcháin cited the militarization of the EU as one area of concern to him, but said the treaty was a positive thing, particularly with amendments on climate change, which were put in by John Gormley.

Another issue, he said, was whether the treaty would negate the need for future referenda on EU issues. Both the Green Party's ministers were at pains to stress that the government position was that referenda on issues of constitutional change would continue, but Cllr O Brolcháin said there was "no clarity" on this.

"The upshot is that the Green Party will be looking at it from an informational point of view," he added.

Despite rumours that the party is in a bad financial situation following the election, Cllr O Brolcháin said, "We're not in a particularly bad position, we're in the black unlike some of the other parties. We won't be spending massively on the campaign out of our own resources."

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