Gino Kenny's Dying With Dignity bill is an important initiative in a difficult and sensitive area. I hope it passes.

It's also a strong example of the absolute bind the Green Party has got itself into by going into government, where every outcome is bad for them. Short thread 1/

Assisted dying is a Green Party policy.

The Green Party went into government with - and I believe this genuinely - the intention of getting Green Party policies passed.

Obviously, the Government, and thus the Green Party has two options - block the bill or allow it to pass 2/

If it's blocked, the Greens have gone into government to get Green Party policies passed, yet once again will find themselves being corralled to vote against one. This is obviously a bad outcome and shows the humiliating, frustrating futility of the arrangement 3/

But if it's passed, then... why be in government at all, if you can get your policies passed from opposition? Why endure your deeply shitty government partners, who have forced you to vote against your own policies before? What are you gaining from this arrangement? 4/

Either way, its a lose-lose for the party. It's a microcosm of why junior partners get chewed up and spat out without getting credit. I feel bad for many of our TDs. But we, as a party, need to cop on & see we're being played to make up the numbers in a game we can't win. /end