Greens may be naïve – but they should still have a role to play in Irish politics

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

The contrast between a party on the rise and a party in the doldrums can be easily gauged by its national conference – as evidenced from the contrasting experiences of Sinn Féin and the Greens.

The Sinn Féin conference in Wexford was held in the snazzy Opera House and attended by almost 2,000 delegates. It had its star turns – Gerry and Martin and Mary Lou and Pearse – and all its Euro election and local election candidates were paraded for the live television coverage. The large media presence flocked everywhere the party celebs went.

In contrast the attendance at the Greens in Dublin was like a medium sized wedding – the headcount for party leader Eamon Ryan’s speech was about 150.

There were only two journalists there for most of the day and there the only live coverage was the tweets being posted by delegates (and they had a tiny audience because the conference clashed with the Italian rugby game).

And so we witnessed a relatively regular phenomenon in Irish politics – the slick presentation of a party on the rise and the more gritty efforts of a minor party, for which every debate is a soul-searching one.

The Green Party is relatively unusual in Ireland in that it seeks allegiance primarily on its ideas and policies, and not for historical, tribal or geographical reasons.

As such, they were – and will always be – niche, even though it will argue that its so-called ‘niche’ policies should be the core principles for any society: confronting climate change; promoting sustainability, ensuring a clean society and clean environment.

But what remains nice about the Greens is that there is still a Don Quixote like naivety to them at times, a wish that everybody veers towards a utopian outlook. There has always been a split in the party between the ‘realos’ (realists) and the fundies (fundamentalists).

At its recent conference there was a motion that no TD should be allowed serve more than two terms, among other things to ensure people have clean hands and are doing it for the right reasons. 

But it was overwhelmingly defeated by a party with a fair share of ‘realos’, who recognised that experience is necessary, and that limiting a TD’s career to two terms would favour those with means at their disposal.

What was also good was that the absence of TV cameras (and then need to preen to the nation) meant that the quality of debates and interchange was much better than at other conferences… though, having manageable numbers does help.

The other thing about Green politics in Ireland is that it goes in and out of vogue. Greens tend to do better when the economy is at its height, as voters are not as obsessed with economic policies. And the pendulum swings the other way during recessions, although the underlying rationale just doesn’t vanish.

The best example of that was the 1991 local elections. A 21-year-old Trinity student Sadhbh O’Neill got elected for the party on Dublin City Council. And what was noteworthy about her election was that she never canvassed. She was in the US on a J1 visa when the election took place.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune