“Now is a time for reflection. We will listen to what our candidates and our members have to say. We will utilise the strong systems of internal democracy that make the Green Party unique in Irish politics, and intensify our ongoing programme of internal communications.”
“We have lost incredibly dedicated and hard working councillors and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to them.
I would agree that the results of Fridays elections were disappointing but realistically and sadly I did not believe that the Green Party would do well. If anything the votes cast were about bringing change, and currently this is on the issues of the economy and getting Ireland out of recession. And for this reason the swing to Fine Gael was always going to happen just as in the UK the swing is back to the Conservatives. For whatever reason the Green Party in Ireland does not seem to have the same level of support that is shared across other European countries.
A special presentation was made entitled, entitled ‘Reasons To Vote Green This Friday’ outlining reasons to choose Green Party candidates. These included policies to boost energy efficiency and cut Ireland’s ruinous foreign oil and gas bill; investment in environmental infrastructure; changes to planning laws to build better communities; improvements to conditions for apartment dwellers; and returning power to the people through a directly elected mayor for Dublin and local referendums.
Sadly this was never going to be strong enough to gain the Irish vote. Maybe one day the Green Party in Ireland will have more political recognition.