The Greens will return to Government in the future, party leader Roderic O’Gorman has predicted despite a disastrous General Election result.
Mr O’Gorman told his annual party convention at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin on Saturday that the Greens had a “very successful period in government” but acknowledged the subsequent “hugely disappointing” election result.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are in the process of forming a new government without the Greens, with the parties expected to rely on several independents to secure a stable majority.
Mr O’Gorman, the outgoing children’s minister, revealed to the convention that he had assured his erstwhile coalition partners that he was “going to be a bollocks” in opposition.
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“I know what questions ministers fear and I’ll be asking those questions and holding the government to account across a broad range of areas.”
He was returned as the party’s only TD following a near wipeout in the General Election. The party is now in the middle of a campaign for the upcoming Seanad elections.
Senior party figures were buoyed by the attendance at Saturday’s convention as they noted that Greens had recovered from catastrophic election results in the past, with one official noting that the conference was being held in the “Phoenix Room” of the hotel.
The Greens lost all their Dail seats in the 2011 election, before climbing to a high of 12 seats in 2020.
Mr O’Gorman, who was chairman of the party between 2011 and 2019, said the party could rebuild again.
Speaking during his first leaders’ speech at the convention, he tried to paint an optimistic picture of the party while being realistic about the near-term future.
“The next number of years are going to be challenging. We’re going to have significantly fewer resources, less staff, much less money, and we’re going to find it harder to get our message across.”
However, he said his key message was: “We know how to do this. We’ve done this before, and we’ve done it from a far more challenging position.”
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Mr O’Gorman expressed concern that the next Government would be “scared of tackling difficult issues”, “retreat” from social policy, see climate action “watered down”.
He said there was a risk that the “conservative politicians” would be focused on implementing a “patchwork of local deals rather than looking for the national interest”.
He said he was really worried about “anti-climate” independents being included in formation talks.
Mr O’Gorman also took aim at Labour and Social Democrats for not using their higher seat count as leverage and entering into Government.
“The speed with which these parties have dropped the mandate that they were given by the electorate is genuinely shocking.
“I have to ask, what is the point in chasing the vote if you’re afraid to do anything with it.”
Mr O’Gorman said there was always a risk for smaller parties in coalitions but cautioned: “The alternative we’re about to witness here in our country now is to cede power to the ultimate status quo arrangement: Fianna Fail and Fine Gael propped up by a group of independents – who all used to be in Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.”
He was among party figures who said the Greens must be prepared to repeat that risk again and spend political capital to enter into Government, even if it results in a boom and bust cycle for Dail seats.
Deputy leader Roisin Garvey told the Green convention that one of the lessons from the election was that the party needed to “stop being so bloody nice”.
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“We’ve nothing to apologise for, nothing. we are on the right side of history because the climate is absolutely screwed.”
She added: “We have to have balls. Okay, this is what happens if you don’t have balls, we get annihilated.”
Ms Garvey also said that if the climate was important to Labour and the Social Democrats, they would have entered into government.
The convention has invited intense introspection for the party, with some members even proposing the removal of the role of cathaoirleach.
The position is currently occupied by outgoing senator and the party’s director of elections Pauline O’Reilly.
Asked about her reflections on the election, Ms O’Reilly said the party’s challenges date back years to a negative reaction to the Greens in Government.
“I don’t think we ever kind of recovered from that. And I think that’s going to be the challenge for us now over the next few years, tackle that earlier, tackle that more head on.”
Senior party figures stressed that there was only a percentage point difference of 1.7% between the Greens and Labour, while the latter secured 10 more seats.
Mr O’Gorman said: “Those margins mean a lot, and because of the particular position we were in coming out of government – those margins, we were punished there.”
The Green Party is obliged to hold leadership elections within six months of the appointment of a taoiseach.
Asked if he felt safe, Mr O’Gorman said: “It’s obviously open to anyone to contest the leadership, but I’ll certainly be putting my name forward.”
Ms Garvey interjected: “There mightn’t be a challenge.”