THE FORMER minister for energy Eamon Ryan has said there is a real prospect there will be no Green Party TD in the Dáil after the election.
“That will be a shame. That would be a huge loss when the country needs to look forward to where we need to go,” he said.
Mr Ryan was speaking at the launch of his re-election campaign for Dublin South in the Mill Theatre in Dundrum yesterday.
He said the Greens had not been great at populist politics when in government but that many decisions, such as the decision to introduce carbon tax and the tough economic and banking decisions, would ultimately benefit the country and its citizens.
Mr Ryan accepted his seat in the five-seater would be vulnerable to the challenge posed by Fine Gael, Labour and the Independent candidate Shane Ross.
“My message is to keep a Green in the Dáil. It actually benefits this country. Do you need to have two Labour TDs in this constituency or two Fine Gael TDs,” Mr Ryan asked.
Between 150 and 200 people attended the launch where Mr Ryan disclosed that the Greens did not differ from the views of Mr Ross and others that bondholders should be burned. He said during negotiations with the EU and the IMF, the Government had argued for burden-sharing for bondholders but had been repelled by forces at the highest level.
Speaking yesterday, he said it became apparent that G20 and G8 leaders were opposed to burning bondholders.
He said the Greens’ position was that bondholders should take a share of the burden, but that was only possible to renegotiate in co-operation with other countries but not for Ireland to do unilaterally as Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin had argued to varying degrees.
Mr Ryan cited a number of policy areas where the Greens had made an impact.
He said there had been the irreversible move towards renewable energy; new planning laws; ambitious insulation schemes; planned legislation to tackle climate change and corporate donations, as well as a Dublin mayoral Bill.
