The Government has downgraded the climate agenda of the previous Coalition to such an extent that it is shying away from hard decisions and doing the bare minimum to meet its obligations, the leader of the Green Party has said.
Party leader Roderic O’Gorman was the minister for children in the last Government and is the only Green TD left in the Dáil. He said the record of the current Government, almost three months into its term, has seen a regression to the old ways of doing things.
“By being a crucial part of the former coalition, we were able to get green policies implemented in a wide range of areas, in climate and transport, but also in my own area, such as child care.
“Since our space in the Coalition is taken by Independent TDs, the Government has reverted back to doing what it wants to do, which is the bare minimum.
“It’s not that they’re doing nothing. It’s not that they are removing financing. They are not anti-climate in any way.
“But there are hard decisions to be made, and they’re just not interested in taking them.”
Mr O’Gorman instances a lack of commitment to focused investment in public transport. He said that could mean taking money from the Apple accounts to ensure that public transport catches up after decades of underinvestment.
“In February, the Minister for Transport slightly increased the roads budget, by 8 per cent.” He said this set out a marker.
“Cycling was mentioned 23 times in our programme for government in 2020. Unfortunately, cycling is mentioned only twice in this Programme for Government. That gives a clear indication of focus.”
He said in his own area of child care, there is unanimity among the parties that additional capacity is required.
However, he said the childcare commitments in the Programme for Government are “incredibly vague”. He questioned the commitment of the Coalition to make good on its election promises.
“I spent a lot of capital to get more investment into childcare and provide families with an average cut of 50 per cent. I had to put up a big fight over two budgetary cycles, but I was able to get that over the line because it was a priority for me and the Green Party. Certainly from the mood music we’re seeing so far, it’s not a priority again,” he said.
Mr O’Gorman is one of only two Green Party Oireachtas members; the other is Senator Malcolm Noonan.
In an interview with The Irish Times, he was asked about the future of his party after the November election when it lost all but one of its Dáil seats. He replied that the situation was not as bad as 2011 when the party lost its State funding. He said the party had 23 councillors and a further six in Northern Ireland.
“We have a strong team. It’s small but we have been small before. The issues we are passionate about, they are still really important and they are not going away.
“We are working on a strategic plan at the moment and will learn from what happened during the last two elections.”
