The resignations from the Green Party prove that is now a real party of Government, writes Noel Whelan
SOME MIGHT say that the Green Party has been careless with its councillors this week. On Wednesday Chris O’Leary, a member of Cork City Council, announced his resignation from the party and was followed on Thursday by Dublin city councillor Bronwyn Maher.
However, a smaller party cannot really call itself a party of government until it’s had a few resignations from its ranks.
Every time the Labour Party has been in government in recent decades it has suffered resignations, not just among its councillors, but also from its parliamentary party.
A couple of Progressive Democrats councillors jumped ship before both the 1999 and 2004 local elections.
The Greens, having begun life as a protest movement and having evolved into an increasingly sophisticated political party, have now come of age as a party of Government.
In many ways going into Government with Fianna Fáil in 2007 was too easy for the Green Party. Most expected that supping with the old enemy would prove more traumatic.
The process was eased somewhat by Bertie Ahern’s generosity in giving them responsibility for the two departments of most relevance to their primary policy concerns, and throwing in a junior ministry and two Seanad seats for good measure.
The special convention held by the party in the Mansion House in June 2007 to approve its participation in government was an emotional event, but ultimately the proposal was passed comfortably.
The tears at the end of the night were those of joy rather than pain.
A cohort led by Patricia McKenna campaigned noisily against coalition but were roundly defeated, and the only resignation flowed from Trevor Sargent’s decision to step down as party leader.
The Green Party has done well in and done well out of being in Government. Their two Ministers have proved very able, and having evangelists for the cause of sustainable development at the Ministers’ desks has reoriented policy in both Environment and Energy.
In addition, both John Gormley and Eamon Ryan have proved themselves strong all-rounders on wider economic issues.
The supporting apparatus and personnel enjoyed by the party in Government have also made it more effective at policy development and communications.
This week’s resignations and their timing owe more to the localised political considerations of the personalities involved, and perhaps to enduring personality clashes within the Green Party, than to any real policy differences over Government participation.
One would have thought that if disgruntled Green Party councillors wanted to jump ship on a point of principle, they would have done so when Bertie Ahern was mired in his tribunal difficulties, but that would have been too early in the local government electoral cycle.
It was always going to be difficult for incumbent Green Party councillors to run as Government party candidates in next June’s local elections. The recent economic turmoil and the further public expenditure cuts likely to be announced next week will make it even harder.
As the going gets tough, the weaker-willed get out.
Maher and O’Leary moved this week for their own political reasons. Maher’s resignation and the city centre press conference announcing it had one primary objective: to garner coverage for Maher and her newly-printed colour Independent poster for the local elections.
The actions of O’Leary and Maher were understandable steps in the pursuit of their local election seats.
However, Patricia McKenna’s antics were more difficult to understand. The negative rhetoric in which Maher and O’Leary engaged was of a type to be expected from councillors trying to attract attention by resigning from their party.
However, for someone staying within the tent to describe their party as being in “free fall”, as McKenna did on Wednesday night, is particularly treacherous and a real gift to the party’s opponents.
One of Maher’s criticisms was that the Green Party has no influence in Government on policy areas outside of their ministerial portfolios.
This is far too dismissive of the impact they have had in those two departments and also understates the extent to which, in part because of external influences and in part because of the influence of the Green Ministers, the environmental agenda is beginning to influence policy across a range of departments.
As it happens, many of the non-environmental issues with which the Green Party had been associated prior to the 2007 election have been resolved or parked. It was prominent in opposition to the use of Shannon airport by the US military on its way to Iraq, but the dynamics of that issue have been transformed by the advent of the Obama presidency.
The Hill of Tara/M3 motorway controversy was another cause championed by the party, but it appears to have fizzled out. The row over the Corrib gas pipeline is also currently in cold storage.
Current economic conditions make it difficult to find money to advance many of the Green Party’s other preferred causes in areas like education and childcare, but they would be even less able to advance these causes in Opposition.
Events in Washington this week have the potential to shape the Green Party’s fortunes more than those in Dublin or Cork. The Obama presidency will add significant new impetus to the Green agenda worldwide.
The newly-inaugurated president has cited energy independence and tackling global warming as his two top priorities after the economy.
It is actually a very good time to be Green and in Government.