THE GREEN Party will convene a full meeting of members next month to discuss the implications of its disastrous local and European election performances.
In the June 5th elections, the party won only three full council seats throughout the State, compared to 18 in 2004.
The party’s candidates also performed poorly in the European Parliament elections and the two Dublin byelections, none being in contention to win a seat.
Over the weekend, the party held two meetings to assess the fallout from the elections.
Its six TDs and Senators held a parliamentary party meeting on Saturday. Candidates, including former councillors, attended the meeting, which was said to have been constructive though “emotional” at times.
Later that evening, the national executive of the party also met to consider how the party will proceed following the electoral setback.
According to a party spokesman, the outcome of both meetings was that the Greens have decided on two short-term courses of action.
The first is that its parliamentary party members will continue to travel around the country meeting local groups and listening to their concerns and viewpoints.
Secondly, the meetings decided that a full meeting of the party’s membership, which totals 1,900, will be held during July to discuss the election and to decide the next steps to be taken.
“It will be up to the members to decide what course of action will be taken,” said the party spokesman.
The Green Party is structured on a collegiate model and the meeting may decide to hold a more formal convention.
It is only at convention that the party’s continuing role in Government can be the subject of debate and a vote.
The party has also held open the matter of arranging a convention to decide on whether or not it should adopt a formal position on the second Lisbon referendum which is now expected to take place in the autumn.
The indications this week were that that may form a separate process to the debate on the elections.
At the party’s national conference in February, Dublin Mid West TD Paul Gogarty proposed that a special convention be held in 2010 to discuss the party’s future in Government.
However, the motion did not attract the support of two-thirds of the delegates as is required by its constitution.
The party’s leadership has maintained that it wishes to continue in Government despite the setback of the elections.
Privately, Green Party deputies have pointed out that all would have difficulty in retaining their seats if an early general election were called.