LAST Wednesday was a seminal day for the Green Party. It was the day the party became serious players and dispelled the myth that its senior figures were flaky and would bolt from government at the first sign of trouble.

That statement won't please the purists on the fringes of the Green Party or those who simplistically believe the party should be some form of moral watchdog for Fianna Fail. But it's the cold, hard truth.

Senior Greens have had to endure some uncomfortable moments since they crossed the Rubicon and entered government with Fianna Fail. Never more so than on Wednesday last, when they had to sit and listen as Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny respectively branded the party "yellow" and accused its leadership of being "seduced by the attraction of power".

Privately, no doubt, the Green TDs had serious qualms about voting confidence in Bertie Ahern given what has emerged in the Mahon tribunal. It would, of course, have been far simpler to be sitting on the opposition benches thundering about how the Taoiseach had misled the tribunal, the Dail and the nation. There would have been positive newspaper headlines galore and the 'fundis' in the Green movement would have slept sounder. But the reality is it wouldn't have advanced the Green cause in this country one single bit.

In politics, as in life, sometimes the simple or easy thing to do is not the best thing. The Greens have been accused of hypocrisy and of selling-out by going into government with Fianna Fail. Nonsense. It was pure pragmatic, common-sense politics.

It is true the Greens were the most hard-hitting about Bertie Ahern's finances in the run-up to the election. But, after their disappointing performance in that election, they quickly took stock.

Senior figures realised that, regardless of what they thought about Bertie-gate, the people who mattered . . .

the electorate . . . had voted Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fail back into office. The Greens had two choices: they could sulk about it and spend yet another five fruitless years on the opposition benches or they could go into coalition with Ahern and Fianna Fail and try to implement Green policies. For professional politicians, it was a no-brainer.

The party's critics argue that, in relation to the programme for government, the party got rolled over by FF on issues such as the US military at Shannon, corporate donations and the M3. But the reality is those were battles the Greens were never going to win, even had they gone into government with Fine Gael and Labour.

Compromise was inevitable when the Greens went into coalition . . . especially with just six TDs in a government of 89.

The party has been clever enough to realise very quickly that it has to pick and choose the issues to go to war over. To that end, getting two senior ministers in core Green Party departments . . . Environment and Energy . . . was a serious coup.

The two ministers . . . John Gormley and Eamon Ryan . . . have an unprecedented opportunity to put an indelible Green stamp on their departments.

That is not to say standards in politics do not matter. It isn't a case of anything goes as long as the Green party can implement its policies. Despite Eamon Gilmore's accusation this weekend that the party has abdicated its responsibilities, it is legitimate for the Greens to argue that it was the people who just four months ago reelected Ahern as Taoiseach. And given that democratic verdict, it is also legitimate for them to say it is not their job to be Fianna Fail's watchdog and they will now await the planning tribunal's verdict.

It would be totally different had Ahern received that fresh mandate without the public knowing about the new details that have emerged in relation to his house and briefcases stuffed with money. But the reality is that because of the leaks from the tribunal, the electorate substantially knew about this when, rightly or wrongly, it returned Ahern and FF to government.

Having made that decision in June to go into government with Ahern, it would be ludicrous for the Greens to then opt to pull out of the coalition on the basis of what has emerged in the four days the Taoiseach spent in the witness box.

There are those who say the party will pay the price at the next election for their decision to sup with Fianna Fail. But what if the Greens, having held the balance of power, had opted not to go into government? What relevance would the party have had come next general election?

The Greens won't get everything they want over the next four years. But if, at the end of their term, they can point to three or four major achievements in office . . . a very realistic goal . . . then the party can look forward to a good general election.

Over the past 18 years, one political party has dominated the policy agenda in Irish politics. It did so by being in government for 13.5 of those years and with an average of just six TDs. The PDs, though, are now on the verge of extinction.

And, given that government formation is now primarily a numbers game, there is a golden opportunity for the Greens to take over the role as the party that drives policy over the next couple of decades.

The Green Party of five years ago . . .

prone to chaining itself to trees or sharing platforms with fringe leftwing groups . . .

wasn't savvy or mature enough to take advantage of that opportunity. The Green Party of today certainly is. Long after last week's furore is forgotten . . . indeed, long after Bertie Ahern has departed . . . the Greens will be a force in Irish politics.

The way senior party figures held their nerve last week proved that.