Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said the party failed to clearly communicate the “wins” it achieved in government in advance of last November’s general election, which saw its number of TDs reduce from 15 to one.
Mr O’Gorman said that during the election campaign the Greens did not succeed in communicating the benefits of the measures the party introduced or contesting negative and misleading narratives about its role in that coalition.
“We were so focused on doing the job of government, trying to get those laws passed and those policies implemented, that we did not play the comms game right.
“We have to recognise that. That will certainly be central to our approach.”
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He was speaking at a meeting of his party’s Oireachtas members and councillors in advance of the Dáil returning next week after its summer break. The Green Party’s Dáil representation fell from 15 to one following the general election in November, and it has a single senator, Malcolm Noonan from Kilkenny. The party has 23 councillors.
At its first autumn gathering since the election, Mr O’Gorman said the party was on the road to recovery. It has published a new strategic plan, which places communications at the centre. It also hopes to increase the party membership from its current level of 3,200 by 50 per cent by the end of the decade.
“We have to get better at fundraising. We have to improve our organisation. We have to be more targeted at identifying where we can win seats at local and European and general elections.”
Mr O’Gorman pointed out the party had been in worse situations before and had recovered. “I believe we can retake seats, and win new ones, at the local and European elections,” he said.
Mr O’Gorman said the Coalition has become a “do-nothing Government” and has passed only 10 Bills in its first 231 days in office compared with 27 Bills passed by the last government in that period.
[ Green Party leader calls on Government to retain funding of key climate projectsOpens in new window ]
He said the only agenda the current Government was pursuing with any enthusiasm was “trying to rip up and roll back the initiatives and policies the Green Party introduced during the last government”.
He said the Government was raiding the €3 billion which had been set aside for the climate and nature fund to meet future challenges so it could fill current gaps in infrastructure spending.
“Not one cent of that €3 billion is going to be spent on nature restoration,” he said.
He also instanced what he said was a row-back on the last government’s policies on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Mr Noonan said that vacancy and dereliction legislation, which had strong cross-party support in the last Oireachtas, had also been shelved by the Government.
Asked if the Greens could become the only party of the left not to back Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly for a presidential nomination, Mr O’Gorman said the party would make a decision within the next week.
“We are still deciding internally on that matter. We undertook quite a detailed member consultation across August. It was discussed at our national executive last week,” he said.
