'YOUR worst day in government is better than your best day in opposition," read the text message sent by Mary Harney.

One of the most experienced politicians in Leinster House was furnishing the still relatively new environment minister John Gormley with some advice. Well-seasoned in playing the role of junior partner in coalition, Harney texted Gormley by way of support during the medical card fiasco that followed the 2008 budget.

In its three years in government, the Green Party has had to make the difficult transition from an idealist party of protest to a party of government, from hurlers on the ditch to the white heat of championship hurling.

It is two years since Harney imparted that advice and it is exactly three years since another seasoned government politician began to text Gormley.

When the six Green Party TDs were pondering a historic move into government, the late Séamus Brennan got Gormley's mobile number and started to text Gormley about the Greens going into government with Fianna Fáil. The pair eventually spoke on the phone and Gormley began to realise that the offers of negotiation were serious.

When the Green Party arrived in Government Buildings, Brennan greeted the party's delegation with the immortal words: "You are playing senior hurling now lads", and added, "but you are playing with lads who have All Ireland medals!"

Three years on, the party is one of seasoned politicians who have weathered many a storm. But it is still encountering some significant day-to-day challenges.

Last year, the party leadership did well to keep the party's grassroots in check over enormous issues such as Nama and the renegotiated programme for government. But as Albert Reynolds famously pointed out, "it is the little things that can trip you up". Three years on from entering government, we assess some of the "little things" the Greens have to battle with. Are they fit to last the pace or is being in government a clash of the ash that they cannot handle?

Water charges

Domestic water charges are a key plank of the programme for government. Gormley insists that the charges will be introduced in the country's 1.1 million homes by 2012.

It is not some zany Green idea either. Gormley has good reason to insist on the charges, as Ireland is one of the only countries in the OECD that does not charge for water.

There are major question marks surrounding our water supply. Even though we spend €500m annually on water treatment plants, the water quality is poor in many parts of the country. If we do not find a way of collecting money to invest in improving the supply we will face hefty EU fines.

Water charges sound good in theory. But the reality is very different. The charges are a political hot potato, especially at a time when thousands of householders are struggling to make ends meet.

Last month there were stories in the media about the country's 34 local authorities not collecting commercial water charges. The charges have been in existence for many years but the councils are still finding it difficult to make companies pay.

If a company does not pay its charges and the local authority disconnects the water supply from its premises, then the likelihood is that the company will close down. If that happens, then the local authority loses out on commercial rates as well. So companies flaunt the charges and the councils cannot really do anything about it.

This poses the question: if the councils cannot collect water charges from businesses, why should they go after individuals who have less ability to pay?

News of businesses not paying presents the anti-water charge campaigners with a stick to beat Gormley. So this issue could get a lot worse before it gets better for the Green leader.

But the country needs a better water supply and unless businesses stump up, we will not be able to improve our water treatment plants.

Gormley would rightly argue that those who use most water should pay the most for it. But it will be a logistical and financial nightmare to install water meters in every business and home in the country. So there will be pressure on the Greens to have a flat water-charge rate. The party is likely to bitterly oppose this. But the state of the public finances may dictate otherwise.

Either way, all the signals suggest this will continue to be a difficult political issue for the Green hurlers.

Free-to-air rugby

Party critics might claim that Séamus Brennan's hurling analogy was not enough for the Greens. They had to go and interfere in Irish rugby as well.

Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, caused a major stir a few weeks ago when he proposed that the Six Nations and the Heineken Cup competitions should be shown on free-to-air TV.

At present, neither the Six Nations nor the Heineken Cup is on the free-to-air list but the Six Nations competition is available free on terrestrial RTÉ television until 2013 as RTÉ holds the rights until then. The Heineken Cup is available live only to Sky Sports subscribers.

Ryan argues that unless a decision is taken now to designate the Six Nations as free-to-air, there is nothing preventing the rugby unions such as the IRFU from making a deal with pay-to-view broadcasters such as Sky in 2013.

He also argues: "The people most disenfranchised by moving major sporting events to pay TV are the poorer sections of society, the elderly, rural dwellers and children."He has a valid point.

But Ryan's well-meaning suggestion that rugby should be made free-to-air infuriated the IRFU and the reaction in general was negative.

The counter-argument is plain and simple. If Ryan's proposals go ahead, then the loss of income would have a detrimental effect on the game in Ireland.

Cynics could suggest that Ryan's proposal was an attempt to be populist that backfired horribly on a minister who is depending on votes in a rugby heartland like Dublin South.

Fine Gael's communications' spokesman Simon Coveney expressed concerns about the loss of revenue to Irish rugby if the IRFU were to lose out on TV deals.

His party leader, Enda Kenny, said that the system in place has worked and there is no need to tamper with it.

If Irish rugby is not broken, do the Greens really need to raise their heads above the parapet and suggest ways of fixing it?

Stag hunting

There is a view that the inexperienced Green Party was sold short by the canny Fianna Fáilers in the original 2007 programme for government negotiations. But the Greens learned a lot in the interim. And last autumn's renewed programme for government had more of a Green tinge.

A controversial ban on stag hunting was one of a number of animal-welfare measures included in the document after some successful negotiations by the Greens. And the party is adamant it is going to happen.

As well as the animal cruelty issue, the Greens maintain that stag hunting poses a safety risk in an increasingly urbanised environment.

The Parks and Wildlife Service will be allowed to cull deer when numbers are out of control, and when damage is being done to trees and farmers' crops.

While there is much merit to the Greens' initiative, the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2010 has been met with much hostility.

A new pro-hunting group called Rise (Rural Ireland Says Enough!) has been formed and it has boldly claimed that a ban on stag hunting is the "thin end of the wedge" and that "a ban on all field sports is part of Green party policy and will follow when the timing suits them".

A number of rural backbench Fianna Fáil TDs have kicked up about the ban already and the tensions over the controversial ban are set to reach a crescendo in the coming months.

The Greens did well to get the ban included in the programme for government but the question remains: can the junior coalition partner hold its nerve and face down a possible Fianna Fáil backbench revolt, at a time when the Dáil arithmetic is so tight?

Puppy farms

Another hurdle for the Greens is the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009. Albert Reynolds' "little things" reference certainly rings true here.

Some of the most important pieces of financial legislation in the history of the state have passed successfully through the Dáil in the last year. But the puppy legislation has caused clashes between Fianna Fáil and the Greens.

When the bill was discussed at a select environment committee meeting last month, the committee room was absolutely packed.

The brainchild of the Green Party, the bill aims to regulate the operation of dog breeding establishments or puppy farms. If it comes into law, local authorities will be required to maintain registers of these 'farms'.

It seems like a perfectly plausible idea in theory but the devil is in the detail.

While regulation of 'puppy farms' seems like a fair idea that should meet little or no opposition, concerns have arisen that Gormley's bill will have a major impact on hunt kennels and the activities of various hunt, harrier and foot beagle clubs.

RISE! and a plethora of other groups are on the Greens' case here as well. They want hunt clubs to be exempted from the legislation as they feel it should solely target commercial breeders.

When the issue was discussed at the recent Dáil committee meeting, Fianna Fáil TD John O'Donoghue was among the rural TDs to suggest that there are concerns in rural Ireland that the Greens' legislation is going to "interfere with, if not destroy country pursuits".

"There's a feeling out there in the countryside among those involved in pursuits of a rural nature that this legislation, while welcome in some respects, is the thin end of the wedge," said O'Donoghue.

Watch this space. It could yet become the thin edge of a wedge between the Greens and Fianna Fáil. They may have hurled well together, but a split in the camp can never be ruled out.