2 weeks Ago
LEADER OF THE Green Party, Roderic O’Gorman, has said the government should not be surprised at the level of anger among the opposition over the speaking rights row. O’Gorman said he expects regular “shenanigans” from the new government. He dubbed the proposal being put forward in relation to the speaking time of Michael Lowry and the Regional Independents, who have essentially taken the Greens’ spot in government, “an outrageous stroke” by government.
Speaking to , O’Gorman said he is “really disappointed” to see the current row between the government and opposition. “It shows how desperate they were for the support, or how desperate they were to kind of tie that deal down quickly,” he said. “Michael Lowry and the Regional Independents, were fundamentally involved in the negotiation of this programme for government.
“They should have [speaking] time absolutely, but it should be government time because they’re not opposition, they’re part of the government.” O’Gorman reckons the government will last “a significant period of time” but added: “It doesn’t mean I think it will be stable. The most recent general election was not kind to the Green Party, but despite returning to the Dáil as a group of one Roderic O’Gorman is feeling energised.
“It’s a very different situation. I’ve never been a backbench TD before,” O’Gorman told over a coffee (in a KeepCup) in the Dáil canteen. The Dublin West TD said he is looking forward to really getting into the challenge of being leader of the party, putting in place new spokespeople and attempting to regrow its representation.
In November’s general election, the Green Party lost 11 of its 12 seats, but O’Gorman is hoping that some of the former parliamentary party will be happy to remain on as spokespeople for the party despite not currently being elected representatives. “Many of them may want to come back in a number of years, there is massive experience there and I’d certainly welcome any input they have. I will be looking to have sit downs with all our former TDs and senators just to get a clear sense of what they want.
O’Gorman said that there is a strong sense among the Green Party membership that they are proud of what was achieved in government despite the bad election. “Ultimately, you’re not in the Green Party to hold your seat. When you’re in the Greens, your seat is always dodgy, but you’re in there to make policy changes.
And we did that.” Is there anything he thinks they could have done differently that would have seen them keep more seats? O’Gorman argued that a damaging perception that ‘the Greens in government cost you money’ became fixed in voters minds from early on in the coalition. “Even though, you know, I was saving people money in childcare, Eamon [Ryan] was saving people money in terms of public transport and in terms of retrofitting.
“But that argument kind of was used a lot by our political opponents when we had a cost of living crisis,” O’Gorman said. Over the next few months the party plans to do a strategic plan to evaluate how it rebuilds. It will also include a discussion about how it communicates with the public as a party, to counter this sort of narrative.
Asked if the party plans to shift how it engages with the government and the public, particularly on climate issues, O’Gorman said: “We will always be a campaigning party.” “Maybe back in our early days we might have protest for protest’s sake, but now it should be to highlight a problem, but also bring forward a solution as well. “If you’re in politics and only talking about the problem and not bringing forward the solution, I don’t really see what you bring to the table.
” Does O’Gorman have faith in Micheál Martin and Simon Harris to deliver on Ireland’s climate targets without the Greens in government? He takes a considerable pause before answering: “They have not committed to do enough in the next five years in the programme for government to take us where we need to go. And that’s a worry.” On his time as Minister for Children and Integration, O’Gorman said he is particularly proud of what he achieved in reducing the cost of childcare, extending parent’s leave, and his work on birth information and tracing legislation.
He is “shocked” at how weak the new government’s commitment is on childcare costs, considering how much agreement there seemed to be on the issue during the election campaign. He is also proud of the Irish response to the invasion of Ukraine. “That was the biggest humanitarian response our State has ever mustered.
It wasn’t perfect, but it meant a huge amount to tens of thousands of families who we’ve provided shelter and safety for.” Asked about the State’s failure to provide shelter to all international protection seekers, O’Gorman acknowledged that it is not acceptable. The Green Party’s position is that a specific government agency needs to be established to deal with accommodation for international protection applicants.
“That’s what every other country who had to deal with large numbers of migrants, has done. “We are going to see heightened levels of people seeking international protection going forward and we need to have that kind of the organisational infrastructure here. The new government has moved responsibility for asylum seekers and integration from the Department of Children to the Department of Justice.
O’Gorman said this alone won’t make delivering accommodation more effective. This week it was announced that Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy has been appointed junior minister with responsibility for Integration within the Department of Justice. It is unclear as of yet whether he will also be responsible for sourcing accommodation for international protection seekers or whether this will be the responsibility of the Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.
O’Gorman said it should be the responsibility of the senior minister. He said he would feel “very sorry” for Brophy if the responsibility has been left with him. “It was difficult enough as a senior minister able to access Cabinet, able to access the Taoiseach.
.. O’Gorman said delegating the issue of integration to a junior minister shows that it is like “nothing has been learned by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the last two years.
” O’Gorman was on the receiving end of a huge amount of abuse both online and in person while a member of government. Has that eased now that he is no longer a minister? “Online it is still there but you just have to try and block it out. A chunk of it was linked to migration a chunk of it was linked to homophobia,” he said.
“The first week before I’d even signed a law or anything, there was a group outside the door demonstrating against me because I was a gay man appointed as Children’s Minister. “So, yeah, it has been difficult. I’ve spoke before about how I have kind of lessened my engagement with social media and that, but I’ve always tried to not let it distract me from the important work that I was doing across all elements of my department.
” Did the abuse ever put him off the job? “I’ve certainly become a lot tougher over the last four years. It’s never put me off politics. I genuinely think it is important, you need people to step up and take on a role in politics.
“As difficult as the last four and a half years have been in my role and across government, I’m very proud of what I was able to achieve in my department, and I’m very proud of what the Greens achieved across government.”.
