Opinion

Should the Green Party enter an alliance with other like-minded parties? Roderic O’Gorman and Pippa Hackett debate

The two candidates for party leadership give their contrasting views on one of the vital issues facing the party

Green Party leadership candidates Roderic O'Gorman and Pippa Hackett. Photographs: Alan Betson

Roderic O'Gorman
Pippa Hackett
Tue Jul 2 2024 - 06:00

Roderic O’Gorman:

The planet can’t wait. That simple principle has long informed the Green Party’s politics.

We have always taken a pragmatic approach to forming governments, never ruling out working with any mainstream party. That is for the simple reason that time is running out and we want to see our policies made reality.

It’s why we leveraged our strongest-ever electoral result into a distinctly green Programme for Government, which received overwhelming backing from party members.

The decision in 2020 to enter Government is what allowed us to halve the cost of childcare, introduce new leave entitlements for parents, and make unprecedented investment in public transport.

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The current Government has been a stable and effective Coalition. Where differences arise between the parties – as they always will in politics – they are resolved through agreed processes.

However, as a party, we have to be focused on maximising our influence in order to deliver our policies.

Ireland’s overall political system is increasingly fragmenting. The old “two and a half party” system is no longer reflected in the Dáil arithmetic.

As that change happens, I believe there is an opportunity for a progressive alliance in order to implement shared ideas of social justice, equality and climate action.

In practice, that would mean sitting down with like-minded parties after an election to see what we can agree on. It would not require voting pacts, mergers or shared campaigns; instead, a recognition of shared goals and a commitment to try to advance them together.

If we want to maximise the delivery of our policies, we should be open to prioritising those who share many of the same goals

The case for a progressive alliance is based on experience across Europe. Many countries face party fragmentation, paired with the emergence of the far right, who seek to roll back hard-won gains in equality, rights and environmental protections.

The progressive alliances formed in response are working. They have led to significant success in Spain, and the Netherlands, where the Green-Labour alliance outpolled every other party in the recent European elections.

As Greens, we have always been clear that we will speak to all parties about coalition, but if we want to maximise the delivery of our policies, we should be open to prioritising those who share many of the same goals.

The benefit of the electoral system in Ireland is that it is not the zero-sum game of first past the post in other countries. It allows for preference and nuance, allowing voters to back parties on the centre-left with distinct character or policies.

In the Greens’ case, that is clearly climate action and protection of the natural world – things which are hard-wired into our party DNA.

That is what makes our party different. But it would be wrong to use that difference to dismiss the shared values and policies of centre-left parties, and the potential benefits of co-operation.

With 12 seats in 2020, the Green Party was able to negotiate a strong, progressive and climate-focused Programme for Government. Our number of TDs was key to the strength of the programme and our ability to see it delivered over the last four years.

I believe we can continue to deliver progressive policies if, after the next general election, parties of the centre-left, who are serious and willing to take on the responsibility of going into government, should seek an agreed set of principles.

From there, we would negotiate with the larger parties, as a bloc, thus maximising our collective influence.

If there is no agreement, the Green Party will move on to alternatives; but as party support in Ireland remains in flux, it is incumbent on parties of the progressive centre-left to seize the opportunity of government and put our collective values into practice.

Pippa Hackett:

Irish Times reader Patrick Byrne (Letters, June 22nd), argues that “the problem for the environment is that green parties exist”. On that I fundamentally disagree. Mr Byrne goes on to state that “all political parties should be green and should have their green policies and intentions declared”. On his second point I wholeheartedly agree. Regrettably, despite decades of warnings as to the scale of destruction facing our planet, other political parties are just not there yet.

The thrust of Mr Byrne’s argument is that the Green Party’s existence gives other political parties a free pass on environmental issues.

It is precisely because other political parties aren’t there – because, as Mr Byrne puts it, they continue to “dodge or play down difficult environmental issues” – that the Green Party is an essential voice in Irish politics if we are to have any hope of continuing to turn the tide on climate action, biodiversity loss and water-quality decline.

A progressive alliance, on the face of it, seems like a good idea. What’s not to like?

After the next general election, the Social Democrats, Labour and Green Party band together, agree a common negotiating position and then, with increased leverage, extract greater concessions from larger parties during the government-formation process. Simple.

The Green Party is undeniably and unapologetically a party of the centre-left, but we have always been a broad church that places protection of our natural world as our unifying mission and vision. Our worldview underpins everything we do: how we care for each other and how we care for our planet. These are inextricably linked, and our record on delivering for a fairer society is a source of great pride for the party.

The current Coalition was formed after a very long and hard negotiation process four years ago. The Green Party delivered the greenest Programme for Government in the history of the State. And we have spent the past four years in Government working collegially yet forcefully to implement the progressive policies – environmental and social – we fought hard to achieve.

Being part of an amorphous blob, another generic party of the centre left, would lose us our strategic flexibility and dilute our identity

Had a progressive alliance been agreed in advance of the last general election, what would have happened? Would the alliance have negotiated with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? If we had negotiated as a bloc, would it have been the greenest programme for government in Europe, or would our asks have been diluted by the alliance to better represent other, non-environmental priorities? Would we have controlled more ministries or fewer?

To tie ourselves to others who might preclude our involvement in government at all, to become part of an amorphous blob, another generic party of the centre left, would be to surrender our strategic flexibility and dilute our identity. It would undermine our ability to ensure real, urgent, meaningful action continues to be taken to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and water-quality decline.

I believe the Green Party should be just that – the Green Party. We are not the Labour Party or the Social Democrats – we never will be, and they will never be us. The urgency of the climate and biodiversity crises demands that we remain open to working with any political party who will sign up to our level of environmental ambition.

There are people across the political spectrum who care about green issues but who don’t vote for the Green Party because of tired jokes and old tropes that we must dispel.

We must stand up to the constant Green-bashing and the misinformation that so frequently surrounds us and our policies. We must become relevant and relatable, and persuade voters that our policies will work for people across the country by making change easy, practical and affordable.

We can do that best by standing before the electorate on our own two feet.

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