Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said his party is on a comeback train and the success of the Green candidate in the Manchester byelection showed that the “politics of hope can win over the politic of rage”.
At his party’s annual convention at the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny, O’Gorman told over 300 delegates that the success of Hannah Spenser in Gorton and Denton was a huge boost for Greens in Ireland in advance of the critical byelections in May in Dublin Central and Galway West.
“A message of progressive evidence-based solutions to climate and social crises in society tell us one thing: Greens can win everywhere,” he said.
O’Gorman’s keynote address to the convention focused as much on social and economic issues as environmental issues, which is a slight departure from his predecessors.
O’Gorman also urged party members to back the two byelection candidates, Janet Horner in Dublin Central and Niall Murphy in Galway West and said it could show that the tide had turned for the party.
“With the world in turmoil and governments at home and abroad rolling back on climate ambitions, there is a temptation to lose hope, to think that people have stopped caring about the environment.
“Now is the time to show that this is not the case, that voters want to choose hope over hatred,” he said.
O’Gorman criticised the Government’s record across key issues saying that its claims had not been matched by its actions. He instanced the pledge by the Government to ban social media for children under 16.
[ May byelections confirmed for Connolly and Donohoe seats in Galway and DublinOpens in new window ]
“When you actually look at the details, it’s only a pilot programme, a review and a woolly commitment to lobby for EU action on the issue. This isn’t real action; this is kicking the can down the road,” he said.
The Government, he said, was addressing the migration system by scapegoating vulnerable people and making life harder for those who have been granted status here by making family reunification and citizenship more difficult.
New Green Party MP Hannah Spencer stops to order lunch at Sue’s takeaway in Levenshulme, Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
“None of this addresses the elephant in the room: our over-reliance on private accommodation providers,” he said.
He also criticised the Government’s failure to deliver its claimed “step change” in disability services, accused it of deploying ever conceivable delaying tactic to avoid progressing the Occupied Territories Bill, and also criticised its housing policy saying it was creating “carve outs” for big landlords and for short-term letters.
O’Gorman also told the meeting that the rise of right-wing politics and “hard men” politicians had to be challenged, and said Ireland was not immune to such forces.
Referring to right-wing politicians, including Donald Trump, he said: “They lie about people whose skin colour is different, they lie about vulnerable communities. And they lie about the climate crisis.
“(Green chair) Janet Horner said last week that we don’t need more ‘hard men’ in politics, selling snake oil solutions to difficult problems.
“She’s right. We need empathetic women and men who will cut through the lies and focus on real delivery for their communities.
“Culture wars are a distraction from the very real problems we face, and the Government is too happy to allow them as a distraction from their appalling record over the last 14 months.
“We know the Irish people are decent and compassionate, which is why they haven’t backed the far right, yet this Government is too eager to shore up its right flank.”
O’Gorman also said the Government had resiled from its climate change commitments and was trying to avoid obligations introduced by the Greens in government.
“In two draft laws – the Bill to allow for the State owned LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) facility in Clare and the Dublin Airport Passenger Cap bill – the Government has inserted specific provisions that exempt these projects from scrutiny under our climate law.
“We have to be very clear what this represents. This is a targeted effort, by the Government, to strangle the effectiveness of the Climate Act. A law based on science, based on obligations that we have signed up to at EU and international level.”
He added: “The Green Party will not stand by while this Government undermines the progress we made.
Myself and Senator Malcolm Noonan will fight this effort to undermine the Climate Action Act every step of the way. I know you will be right there with us.”
In her speech to to conference, deputy leader Hazel Chu said that rebuilding the party was not about nostalgia, it was about focus.
“After the 2024 general election, when our Dáil representation was reduced to a single seat, some predicted we would fade away. Instead, we did what Greens have always done. We got back to work,” she said.
“Roderic O’Gorman has been clear eyed about the scale of the task. Rebuilding takes discipline. It takes honesty. And it takes a willingness to hold the Government to account, particularly when climate ambition drifts, when public transport is deprioritised or when short-term politics overrides long term national interest.”