{"id":323174,"date":"2026-03-01T08:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323174\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T08:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:59:13","slug":"success-in-uk-can-inspire-byelection-victories-here-ogorman-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323174\/","title":{"rendered":"Success in UK can inspire byelection victories here, O\u2019Gorman says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Green Party<\/a> leader Roderic O\u2019Gorman<\/a> has said his party is on a comeback train and the success of the Green candidate in the Manchester byelection showed that the \u201cpolitics of hope can win over the politic of rage\u201d. <\/p>\n

At his party\u2019s annual convention at the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny<\/a>, O\u2019Gorman 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<\/a> in May in Dublin Central and Galway West. <\/p>\n

\u201cA message of progressive evidence-based solutions to climate and social crises in society tell us one thing: Greens can win everywhere,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman\u2019s keynote address to the convention focused as much on social and economic issues as environmental issues, which is a slight departure from his predecessors. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time to show that this is not the case, that voters want to choose hope over hatred,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman criticised the Government\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0May byelections confirmed for Connolly and Donohoe seats in Galway and DublinOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you actually look at the details, it\u2019s only a pilot programme, a review and a woolly commitment to lobby for EU action on the issue. This isn\u2019t real action; this is kicking the can down the road,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"NewNew Green Party MP Hannah Spencer stops to order lunch at Sue’s takeaway in Levenshulme, Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Furlong\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this addresses the elephant in the room: our over-reliance on private accommodation providers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He also criticised the Government\u2019s failure to deliver its claimed \u201cstep change\u201d 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 \u201ccarve outs\u201d for big landlords and for short-term letters. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman also told the meeting that the rise of right-wing politics and \u201chard men\u201d politicians had to be challenged, and said Ireland was not immune to such forces. <\/p>\n

Referring to right-wing politicians, including Donald Trump, he said: \u201cThey lie about people whose skin colour is different, they lie about vulnerable communities. And they lie about the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Does the Green Party have a future? Members say climate has slipped down political agendaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201c(Green chair) Janet Horner said last week that we don\u2019t need more \u2018hard men\u2019 in politics, selling snake oil solutions to difficult problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s right. We need empathetic women and men who will cut through the lies and focus on real delivery for their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the Irish people are decent and compassionate, which is why they haven\u2019t backed the far right, yet this Government is too eager to shore up its right flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Gorman also said the Government had resiled from its climate change commitments and was trying to avoid obligations introduced by the Greens in government. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn two draft laws \u2013 the Bill to allow for the State owned LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) facility in Clare and the Dublin Airport Passenger Cap bill \u2013 the Government has inserted specific provisions that exempt these projects from scrutiny under our climate law. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe Green Party will not stand by while this Government undermines the progress we made. <\/p>\n

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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her speech to to conference, deputy leader Hazel Chu said that rebuilding the party was not about nostalgia, it was about focus. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the 2024 general election, when our D\u00e1il 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,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRoderic O\u2019Gorman 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Green Party leader Roderic O\u2019Gorman has said his party is on a comeback train and the success of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8934,41141,61,60,43,3582],"class_list":["post-323174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-green-party","tag-hazel-chu","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-roderic-o-gorman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}