GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley has rejected claims by the second councillor to resign from the party this week that its policy platform in government is weak and has made it irrelevant.
Dublin City Councillor Bronwen Maher yesterday announced her resignation from the party. She claimed the Greens in government had become a “centrist lifestyle-lite Green Party” with which she no longer felt a connection.
Her resignation came a day after Cllr Chris O’Leary in Cork also announced his departure from the party. He said the Greens were committed to remain in government “no matter what”.
At a press conference, Ms Maher read an open letter she had sent to Mr Gormley yesterday. She said that in coalition with Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, the Greens had turned into a party that was “irrelevant and out of touch”.
The Clontarf-based Ms Maher has been a party member for 20 years and a councillor since 2004. She said she rued the loss of “strong policies” the party had in opposition on the environment, human rights, social justice and the local community. She listed campaigns such as those regarding the Poolbeg incinerator, the M3 and Tara, the Shannon stopover and support for the Rossport Five protest.
Yesterday, both Mr Gormley and the other Green Minister described as untrue the assertions made by Ms Maher and Mr O’Leary, or the claim by former MEP Patricia McKenna that the party was in “free fall”.
“There have been huge achievements in government,” said Mr Gormley. “Even while Bronwen Maher was speaking [at her press conference], Eamon Ryan was unveiling a new broadband scheme worth €232 million.”
He suggested that the difficulty may be one of communication rather than policy implementation. “People are not aware of all the achievements of the Green Party in government. That is a worry because we have to get that message across,” he told RTÉ.
Similarly, Mr Ryan, in rejecting the charge of ineffectuality, said the party had been influential in government. “We have fundamentally changed the nature of energy policy in this country. I see that we have fundamentally changed the nature of planning and housing,” he said.
“If you read the economic framework, published before Christmas – it’s an innovative economy. It’s a green economy,” he added.
In her open letter, Ms Maher claimed the Greens had given up a strong opposition role to implement what was largely EU policy which would have been implemented in any instance.
She also criticised what she described as the narrowness of the Green agenda in government, saying that most of its achievements were confined to the policy areas of its two Ministers.
“We are corralled in these two policy areas. We are told that Ministers are working silently behind the scenes [in other policy areas]. That is an excuse.”
She denied that her departure was motivated by concerns about the upcoming elections. Ms Maher added that she would stand as an independent in the elections.
