THE GREEN PARTY will have recovered enough to win five Dáil seats in the next general election, according to a strategy outlined yesterday.
The plan sets out how the party can revive its fortunes over the next decade after its meltdown in the election in February, when all six of its TDs lost their seats.
The party also predicts it can double its number of councillors in the 2013 local elections to more than 20.
The strategy was launched by party leader Eamon Ryan in the Central Hotel, Dublin, yesterday. The event also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the party, which was founded in the same hotel in 1981.
Mr Ryan and party chairman Roderic O’Gorman also announced a new front bench. Only two others of its nine former TDs and senators – Ciarán Cuffe from Dublin Central and Mark Dearey from Louth – are among the 16 members. With an average age of 36, the party said it had the youngest front bench of all parties and had given an opportunity to a new generation of Greens.
Deputy leader Catherine Martin becomes the spokeswoman on education and skills, and the party’s two other county councillors, Brian Meaney (Clare) and Malcolm Noonan (Kilkenny), will take charge of European affairs, and environment and local government respectively.
Galway cheesemonger Seamus Sheridan has been named spokesman for agriculture and food, while Leitrim-based Gareth McDaid, son of former Fianna Fáil minister Jim McDaid, is the spokesman on communications, energy and natural resources.
At the event, attended by a large number of activists, Mr Ryan said the party had made mistakes in government. “I am truly sorry for the mistakes and the loss of public confidence in the Green message,” he said.
He said the party could not continue to look back and must now focus on urgent questions that needed to be asked on behalf of the Irish people.
The Coalition “does not understand or get the Green agenda”, Mr Ryan said, adding that since coming to power in February, the Government had reversed planning initiatives, downgraded public transport, sold State assets, pursued the wrong waste strategy and had no sense of climate change.
“We need to be there pointing out the opportunities. We have a huge and difficult task. We should not underestimate the challenge the Green Party faces with no resources,” he said.
Because the party secured less than 2 per cent of the national vote in February, it lost State funding, which means it is now funded voluntarily. Mr O’Gorman said the party would be made up of seven groups, each with seven members, and each taking responsibility for a particular area of administration, organisation or recruitment. It was also disclosed that 10 per cent of the party’s membership was new, having joined since February’s general election.
Mr Ryan said the party would spend the next year reorganising and building up its membership and structures. He said he expected the Green vote to recover to 10 per cent within a decade and to 20 per cent within 20 years. He instanced the revival of the Greens in both Germany and New Zealand, where the parties had all but been wiped out.
Ms Martin said the aim of the party was to deliver simple and practical solutions that promoted sustainability and improved quality of life. “Our job now is to rebuilt that base of representation and put into action the experience we have gained over the last 30 years,” she said.