The Green Party is embroiled in an environmental row after it emerged that a candidate wrongly claimed she was printing newsletters on recycled paper.

European election hopeful Deirdre de Burca has come under fire for claiming to be "holier than thou", while at the same time falsely telling voters that a promotional newsletter was environmentally friendly.

Power

The same senator may also be trouble after stating last night that her party would have no hesitation in walking away from power. While Green ministers were yesterday playing down the possibility of quitting Government, Ms de Burca warned that there would have to be "a very serious review of the Programme for Government".

The senator has been strongly criticised by her former colleague-turned-election-rival Patricia McKenna over the newsletter.

Ms de Burca has admitted that the four-page A4 leaflets were actually printed on standard glossy paper that is environmentally damaging.

She said that an "internal investigation" had revealed that a party official had made what she described as "a blunder".

The Dublin candidate accepted that the paper should never have been labelled as recycled.

However, former independent European election candidate Ms McKenna hit out, saying: "It's a disgrace that they seem to be trying to hoodwink people into thinking they are holier than thou using recycled material."

She went on to say that the "greater scandal" was the use of Oireachtas facilities "for what, let's face it, are election purposes".

Many candidates have been accused of using their position within the Oireachtas to print and distribute items that could be construed as vote gathering material.

Poster

The newsletter features a picture of Ms de Burca in front of her election poster, with party leader John Gormley and Minister Eamon Ryan. But Ms de Burca has said that they are information leaflets distributed as part of her role as the party's spokesperson on European affairs. The election candidate also took to the airwaves yesterday where she gave a stark warning to Fianna Fail.

Asked about the strength of the party's position in Government on Newstalk's The Right Hook, Ms de Burca replied: "It's becoming clear to us that having achieved a lot of the green objectives that we set at the outset of Government... that we need to see our impact in those areas and if we don't then we'll have to review our position in Government.

"So it's going to be a very serious review of the Programme for Government after the elections and that's certainly what we'll be putting to our coalition partners."

kdoyle@herald.ie

- Kevin Doyle