Gormley to resign as Green leader: Sunday Times

[laidback]

He wants to spend more time with his pension.

Exactly, and also with his disappointment money.

he doesn't need to work again.

[commonman]

Who gives a f..k about them.

[Catalpa]

I Can't see them ever coming back as a political force in Irish Politics

They could only ever be a niche Party in the political system and always a junior Party in any Government.

The experience of the last few years means they would be forever tarred in the public mind with that humiliation.

Much better approach as someone has pointed out is for those who really value the Green Agenda is to push it within already established Parties

- and seek to influence it from that angle

Most Parties today incl at least lip service to the Environment so there are roots there that can be made to grow....

As CJ once said:

I'm a bit of a Green myself....

[Panopticon]

Ryan should go with another party and push his green agenda within it. You imply two things that are probably why people don't warm to the Greens - that they somehow could be the only party of principles and that they are somehow not responsible for their own demise. They are not the only party of principles, other parties also are concerned about the things they are and they CHOSE to be in government with FF, it had nothing to do with being unlucky.

Here's the problem.

When it comes to a fight between the farmers/rural lobby and Green policies like animal rights, who honestly thinks a Fine Gael internal debate is going to side with the Greens?
When it comes to a fight between the poverty lobby and Green policies like a carbon tax, who honestly thinks a Labour internal debate is going to side with the Greens?

Greens stand for radical changes to society that hurt entrenched interest groups too much for their policies to succeed in parties that (as is natural in a democracy) represent those interest groups.

The consistent result across many, many countries is that the only way Green policies get implemented is if they stay out of other parties and organise themselves. In Germany, the Greens were the only ones to represent the very popular policy of ending the use of nuclear energy... before Japan happened, that is. It's hard to see why any green group would choose to work within a larger party after seeing that example of large party failure to coalesce around an environmentalist policy. Even in the United Kingdom, whose electoral system is extremely biased against small parties, the Greens still choose to organise separately.

Environmentalism is a political niche. It can't win if its advocates have to take a big party whip. It can only win if, like the Irish Greens, it can force a government to depend on its votes in a coalition.

[Panopticon]

A summary of my post: Ideological Greens won't join other parties because the ability of non-Green parties to credibly commit to Green policies is overstated.

[wombat]

A summary of my post: Ideological Greens won't join other parties because the ability of non-Green parties to credibly commit to Green policies is overstated.

Ideology precludes its believers from joining any mainstream party. Mainstream parties are like the majority of people - they have a set of basic beliefs which they agree on but other than that, they're pretty diverse.

[Tomas Mor]

Could Trevor Sargent make a comeback. He did something unusual (being in gov with FF) he resigned at once when he got involved in a garda prosecution case.

[LiquidPaddy]

I hope some of them do. I hope Eamonn Ryan does. The Greens are a party of principles. it was sad to see them be wiped out. they had a tough time in govt, but they were unlucky to be in with FF who were too cute for them and to be in at such a tough time. there mistakes were tactical, but they were honest and well meaning. we need their influence.

Oh please! They were just as power-hungry as any political party. Boo hoo, FF were too smart for them! How about them being really crap in government? I never want to see the party that introduced taxes for no reason and useless bicycle lanes to nowhere back in government

[Winalot]

The now-banjaxed Green Party has succeeded in ruining the independent green agenda in Irish politics for quite some time to come.

[gijoe]

Is there anyone left in the Greens to accept Gormley's resignation???