Green Party (Ireland)

Early years

The party's first electoral outing was at the November 1982 general election when seven candidates contested under the Ecology Party banner, winning 0.2% of the vote. Following a name change, it contested the 1984 European elections, with party founder Roger Garland winning 1.9% in the Dublin constituency. The following year, it won its first election when Marcus Counihan was elected to Killarney Urban District Council at the 1985 local elections. The party nationally ran 34 candidates and won 0.6% of the vote.

The party continued to struggle until the 1989 general election when the Green Party (as it was now named) won its first Dáil seat, when Roger Garland was elected in Dublin South. Garland lost his seat at the 1992 general election, while Trevor Sargent gained a seat in Dublin North. In the 1994 European election, Patricia McKenna topped the poll in the Dublin constituency and Nuala Ahern won a seat in Leinster. They retained their European Parliament seats in the 1999 European election, although the party lost five councillors in local elections held that year despite an increase in its vote. At the 1997 general election, the party gained a seat when John Gormley won a Dáil seat in Dublin South-East.

At the 2002 general election the party made a breakthrough, getting six Teachtaí Dála (TDs) elected to the Dáil with 4% of the national vote. However, in the 2004 European election, the party lost both of its European Parliament seats. In the 2004 local elections, it increased its number of councillors at county level from 8 to 18 (out of 883) and at town council level from 5 to 14 (out of 744).

Term in government

The Green Party entered government for the first time after the 2007 general election, held on 24 May. Although its share of first preference votes increased at the election, the party failed to increase the number of TDs returned. Mary White won a seat for the first time in Carlow–Kilkenny; however, Dan Boyle lost his seat in Cork South-Central.

The party had approached the 2007 general election on an independent platform, ruling out no coalition partners while expressing its preference for an alternative to the outgoing coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.^[3][4] Neither the outgoing government nor an alternative of Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party had sufficient seats to form a majority. Fine Gael ruled out a coalition arrangement with Sinn Féin,^[5] opening the way for Green Party negotiations with Fianna Fáil.

Before the negotiations began, Ciarán Cuffe TD wrote on his blog that "a deal with Fianna Fáil would be a deal with the devil… and [the Green Party would be] decimated as a Party".^[6] The negotiations were undertaken by Donall Geoghegan (the party's general secretary), Dan Boyle and the then party Chair John Gormley. The Green Party walked out after six days; this, Geoghegan later said, was owing to there not being "enough in [the deal] to allow [the Green Party] to continue".^[7] The negotiations restarted on 11 June with a draft programme for government being agreed one day later, which under party rules needed 66% of members to endorse it at a special convention.^[8][9] On 13 June 2007, Green members in the Mansion House, Dublin, voted 86% in favour (441 to 67; with 2 spoilt votes) of entering coalition with Fianna Fáil. The following day, the six Green Party TDs voted for the re-election of Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach.^[10]

New party leader John Gormley was appointed as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Eamon Ryan was appointed as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Trevor Sargent was named Minister of State for Food and Horticulture (he resigned this position in 2010).

Before their entry into government, the Green Party had been vocal supporters of the Shell to Sea movement,^[11] the campaign to reroute the M3 motorway away from Tara and (to a lesser extent) the campaign to end United States military use of Shannon Airport.^[12] After the Green Party entered government there were no substantive changes in government policy on these issues, which meant that Eamon Ryan oversaw the Corrib gas project while he was in office. The Green Party had, at its last annual conference, made an inquiry into the irregularities surrounding the project (see Corrib gas controversy) a precondition of entering government^[13] but changed its stance during post-election negotiations with Fianna Fáil.

The 2008 budget, announced on 6 December 2007, did not include a carbon levy on fuels such as petrol, diesel and home heating oil, which the Green Party had sought before the election.^[14] A carbon levy was however introduced in the 2010 Budget.^[15] The 2008 budget did include a separate carbon budget announced by Gormley,^[16] which introduced new energy efficiency tax credit,^[14] a ban on incandescent bulbs from January 2009,^[17] a tax scheme incentivising commuters' purchases of bicycles^[18] and a new scale of vehicle registration tax based on carbon emissions.^[19]

At a special convention on whether to support the Treaty of Lisbon on 19 January 2008, the party voted 63.5% in favour of supporting the Treaty; this fell short of the party's two-third majority requirement for policy issues. As a result, the Green Party did not have an official campaign in the first Lisbon Treaty referendum, although individual members were involved on different sides^[20] The referendum did not pass in 2008, and following the Irish government's negotiation with EU member states of additional legal guarantees and assurances, the Green Party held another special convention meeting in Dublin on 18 July 2009 to decide its position on the second Lisbon referendum. Precisely two-thirds of party members present voted to campaign for a Yes in the referendum. This was the first time in the party's history that it campaigned in favour of a European treaty.^[21]

The government's response to the post-2008 banking crisis significantly affected the party's support, and it suffered at the 2009 local elections, returning with only three County Council seats in total and losing its entire traditional Dublin base with the exception of a Town Council Seat in Balbriggan.

In 2010, Déirdre de Búrca, one of two Green Senators nominated by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2007, resigned from the party and her seat, in part owing to the party's inability to secure her a job in the European Commission.^[22] On 23 February 2010, Trevor Sargent resigned as Minister of State for Food and Horticulture owing to allegations over contacting Gardaí about a criminal case involving a constituent.^[23] On 23 March 2010, Ciarán Cuffe was appointed as Minister for Horticulture, Sustainable Travel, Planning and Heritage while the party gained a junior ministerial position with Mary White appointed as Minister for Equality, Human Rights and Integration.

The party supported the passage legislation for EC–ECB–IMF financial support for the Ireland's bank bailout. On 19 January, the Greens derailed Taoiseach Brian Cowen's plans to reshuffle his cabinet when it refused to endorse Cowen's intended replacement ministers, forcing Cowen to redistribute the vacant portfolios among incumbent ministers. The Greens were angered at not having been consulted about this effort, and went as far as to threaten to pull out of the coalition unless Cohen set a firm date for an election due that spring. Cowen ultimately set the date for 11 March.^[24]

On 23 January 2011, the Green Party met with Cowen following his resignation as leader of senior coalition partner Fianna Fáil the previous afternoon.^[25] The Green Party then announced it was breaking off the coalition and going into opposition with immediate effect.^[26] Green Party leader John Gormley said at a press conference announcing the withdrawal:

For a very long time we in the Green Party have stood back in the hope that Fianna Fáil could resolve persistent doubts about their party leadership. A definitive resolution of this has not yet been possible. And our patience has reached an end.^[27][28]

The government ministerial posts of Gormley and Ryan were reassigned to Fianna Fáil ministers Éamon Ó Cuív and Pat Carey respectively.^[29] Green Ministers of State Ciarán Cuffe and Mary White also resigned from their roles.^[29]

In almost four years in Government, from 2007 to 2011, the Green Party contributed to the passage of civil partnership for same-sex couples,^[30] the introduction of major planning reform,^[31] a major increase in renewable energy output,^[32] progressive budgets,^[33] and a nationwide scheme of home insulation retrofitting.^[34]

Wipeout and recovery

The party suffered a wipeout at the 2011 general election, with all of its six TDs losing their seats, including those of former Ministers John Gormley and Eamon Ryan. Three of their six incumbent TDs lost their deposits. The party's share of the vote fell below 2%, meaning that they could not reclaim election expenses, and their lack of parliamentary representation led to the ending of state funding for the party.^[35]

The party candidates in the 2011 election to the Seanad were Dan Boyle and Niall Ó Brolcháin; neither was elected, and as a result, for the first time since 1989 the Green Party had no representatives in the Oireachtas.

Eamon Ryan was elected as party leader on 27 May 2011, succeeding John Gormley.^[36] Catherine Martin, a former Carrickmacross town councillor,^[37] was later appointed deputy leader, while Ciarán Cuffe and Mark Dearey were also placed on the party's front bench.^[38]

In the 2014 European election the party received 4.9% of the vote nationally (an increase of 3% on the 2009 result), failing to return a candidate to the European Parliament. In the 2014 local elections the party received 1.6% of the vote nationally. 12 candidates were elected to County Councils, an increase of 9.

At the 2016 general election the Green Party gained two seats, becoming the first Irish political party to lose all seats at an election and win seats at the subsequent election. In the election to Seanad Éireann, Grace O'Sullivan became the first elected Green Party Senator, winning a seat of the Agricultural Panel. She established the Civil Engagement group with five Independent Senators. On 30 May 2016, the Green Party joined the Social Democrats to form a technical group in the Dáil.^[39][40]

Leadership

The party did not have a national leader until 2001. At a special "Leadership Convention" in Kilkenny on 6 October 2001, Trevor Sargent was elected the first official leader of the Green Party. He was re-elected to this position in 2003 and again in 2005. The party's constitution requires that a leadership election be held within six months of a general election.

Sargent resigned the leadership in the wake of the 2007 general election to the 30th Dáil. During the campaign, Sargent had promised that he would not lead the party into Government with Fianna Fáil.^[48] In the election outcome the party retained 6 Dáil seats, making them the most likely partner for Fianna Fáil. Sargent and the party negotiated a coalition government and at the 12 June 2007 membership meeting to approve the agreement, he announced his resignation as leader.

In the subsequent leadership election, John Gormley became the new leader on 17 July 2007, defeating Patricia McKenna by 478 votes to 263. Mary White was subsequently elected as the deputy Leader. John Gormley served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from July 2007 until the Green Party's decision to exit Government in December 2010.

Following the election defeat of 2011, John Gormley announced his intention not to seek another term as Green Party leader. Eamon Ryan was elected as the new party leader, over party colleagues Phil Kearney and Cllr Malcolm Noonan in a postal ballot election of party members in May 2011. Monaghan based former councillor Catherine Martin defeated Down based Dr John Barry and former Senator Mark Dearey to the post of Deputy Leader on 11 June 2011 during the party's annual convention. Roderic O'Gorman was elected party chairperson.

The Green Party had six seats in the Irish parliament but lost them all in the 2011 general election.^[49] Party Chairman Dan Boyle and Déirdre de Búrca were nominated by the Taoiseach to Seanad Éireann after the formation of the Fianna Fáil–PD–Green Party government in 2007 and Niall Ó Brolcháin elected in December 2009. De Búrca resigned in February 2010, and was replaced by Mark Dearey. Neither Dan Boyle or Niall O'Brolchain were re-elected to Seanad Éireann in the Seanad election of 2011, leaving the Green Party without Oireachtas representation until the 2016, where they regained 2 Dáil seats.

Irish and European politics

The Green Party is organised throughout the island of Ireland, with regional structures in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Green Party in Northern Ireland voted to become a regional partner of the Green Party in Ireland in 2005 at its annual convention, and again in a postal ballot in March 2006.) Brian Wilson, formerly a councillor for the Alliance Party, won the Green Party's first seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2007 election. Steven Agnew held that seat in the 2011 election.

Dáil Éireann

Election	Seats won	±	Position	First Pref votes	%	Government	Leader
1982 (Nov)	0 / 166		None	3,716	0.2%	No Seats	None
1987	0 / 166		None	7,159	0.4%	No Seats	None
1989	1 / 166	1	6th	24,827	1.5%	Opposition	None
1992	1 / 166		6th	24,110	1.4%	Opposition	None
1997	2 / 166	1	5th	49,323	2.8%	Opposition	None
2002	6 / 166	4	5th	71,470	3.8%	Opposition	Trevor Sargent
2007	6 / 166		4th	96,936	4.7%	Coalition (FF-GP-PD)	Trevor Sargent
2011	0 / 166	6	None	41,039	1.8%	No Seats	John Gormley
2016	2 / 158	2	8th	56,999	2.7%	Opposition	Eamon Ryan

Devolved Northern Ireland Legislatures

Election	Body	Seats won	±	Position	First Pref votes	%	Government	Leader
1996	Forum	0 / 110		None	3,647	0.5%	No Seats	None
1998	Assembly	0 / 108		None	710	0.1%	No Seats	None
2003		0 / 108		None	2,688	0.4%	No Seats	None
2007		1 / 108	1	6th	11,985	1.7%	Opposition	None
2011		1 / 108		7th	6,031	0.9%	Opposition	Steven Agnew
2016		2 / 108	1	6th	18,718	2.7%	Opposition	Steven Agnew
2017		2 / 90		6th	18,527	2.3%	Opposition	Steven Agnew

Westminster

Election	Seats (in NI)	±	Position	Total votes	% (in NI)	% (in UK)	Government
1983	0 / 17		None	451	0.1%	0.0%	No Seats
1987	0 / 17		None	281	0.0%	0.0%	No Seats
1997	0 / 18		None	539	0.1%	0.0%	No Seats
2010	0 / 18		None	3,542	0.5%	0.0%	No Seats
2015	0 / 18		None	6,822	1.0%	0.0%	No Seats
2017	0 / 18		None	7,452	0.9%		No Seats