Politics

Green Party looks set to lose half its councillors but may limit losses with strong Dublin showing

Party strategists not optimistic about Ciarán Cuffe or Grace O’Sullivan holding their European seats

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and party European election candidate Ciaran Cuffe at the RDS during the count for the local and European elections. Photograph: Damien Storan/PA Wire

Jack Horgan-Jones
Sun Jun 9 2024 - 20:14

The Green Party looked set to lose around half its local representatives but limited its losses with a strong showing in Dublin city, including several poll toppers.

The party is projecting a seat total in the low 20s after going into the local elections with 44 sitting councillors. While this represents a substantial loss senior party sources argued that given the Greens are a junior partner in a coalition government it was significantly better than recent comparisons – pointing to the Greens’ own experience in 2009 and the Labour Party’s fortunes in 2014.

Green Party figures said the party is set to hold all six of its seats in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and have eight seats on Dublin City Council, including poll-toppers in the shape of Claire Byrne (South East Inner City), Michael Pidgeon (South West Inner City) and Feljin Jose (Cabra-Glasnevin).

Candidates who were elected to the final seats in 2019, when the Greens experienced a surge in support at local and European level, appeared to be particularly vulnerable. “The big green wave has gone out,” one senior party figure said, “but there is still a strong residual green vote.”

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“Considering where we are four years in, some people were talking about annihilation,” a Green Minister said.

At European level there was insufficient tallying information on Sunday evening to confidently project the probability of either of the party’s sitting MEPs in retaining their seats in Dublin (Ciarán Cuffe) or Ireland South (Grace O’Sullivan). However, party strategists said earlier on Sunday they were not optimistic about the prospect of holding either seat. Pauline O’Reilly, the Green Party senator and chair, was not featuring in projections of those likely to take seats in Midlands-Northwest.

Cuffe in particular was expected to feature in a significant battle between up to six candidates contesting the last two seats in Dublin. With Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael expected to take the first two seats via Barry Andrews and Regina Doherty respectively, the Greens were expected to face off against Niall Boylan, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Clare Daly, Lynn Boylan, and Bríd Smith.

Earlier on Sunday, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the party had seen a “mixed” day in the local and European elections. Party sources said candidates had also polled well in rural areas, pointing to competitive outings in Kerry and Clare where candidates fell just short of being elected.

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times

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